Daniel O’Donnell has urged those affected by the Creeslough explosion to get the help they need as he described the tragedy as ‘beyond comprehension’.
The Donegal native singer was travelling home from Chicago as news of the incident, which saw the loss of ten lives, unfolded on Friday evening.
Describing the emotional journey, as he awaited to learn the full scale of the devastation, he said: “It’s just unbelievable, when I first heard it I was travelling in Chicago airport, and you know the initial thing, you don’t even imagine it would be so serious and very quickly, you hear the news from home that this was a terrible tragedy.”
Read more: Friends and family rally round wife and son of Creeslough explosion victim
“And then I arrived in Dublin, but I knew before I left that they said that there were three people who had died, and just waiting on the plane..
“Everybody knows somebody in Donegal. And I suppose Ireland is like that…”
At the airport, he met a woman who knew one of the deceased.
“I was standing beside a girl and she said her husband’s first cousin had been the first to have been identified as having died,” he told Claire Byrne on RTE Radio 1.
“There were no words really to express anything about how people must be feeling. “Creeslough, I can imagine, as such a small community, everybody knows everybody and many were related, it is just beyond comprehension that the like of this would happen.”
The Kincasslagh native recalled the last time he was at the shop in the summer to pay for diesel.
“And I was thinking, that’s what people did on Friday. Walked in to do what they needed to do, never thinking or knowing what was ahead of them.
“And in that split second how life can change. Not alone for those that are deceased or injured, but for all the people, 100s of people, that their lives will never be the same again. It doesn’t bear thinking about”.
The singer attended a service of remembrance in Dublin at the weekend, where ten candles rested on the altar, signifying the ten people who were killed.
The devastated local said: “All we can do is pray for them, the last thing I did last night was say the rosary for them, that’s all we can do at this time.
“I don’t know how to express what I would like to say,” he added.
“There is nothing anybody can do that is going to take away the sense of lost loved ones.
“And those that have been injured. Or those people who were about to go into the shop, or had just left the shop.
“There’s so many different emotions for people, I'm sure.”
The country crooner went on to urge those affected in any way to get help, as the county continues to grieve.
“I would say to the people who survived too, don’t hold onto any feeling that is bothering you. There will be people who are not affected in a physical way but will need help.
“And they should address that. Don’t think that because you are alright physically, that you shouldn’t deal with it. If you have a feeling of any kind, nervousness or anything, it’s important people are attended to.”
READ NEXT:
Faces of victims of Donegal petrol station explosion as heartbreaking tributes paid
Full list of Irish housheolds in for €1,324 winter boost as thousands more now eligible
Chicken, beer and yoghurt in full list of food recalled by Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl and more Irish shops
Why is there condensation on my window and how can I stop it forming?
Met Eireann forecasts brutal week ahead as 'turocharged' jetstream hits
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
