Local residents have told of their frantic efforts to rescue people trapped in the rubble after a fatal explosion at a petrol station in Ireland.
Investigations continued in Creeslough, County Donegal today after the tragic incident claimed the lives of 10 people on Saturday. Among the dead were four men, three women, two teenagers, and a girl of primary school age, according to local police.
Reports emerged from villagers over the weekend of the chaotic scene in the aftermath of the explosion, with one describing a girl screaming as she begged onlookers to saved her loved ones.
Many spent hours shifting debris to try to free those trapped underneath.
Colin Kilpatrick was making a delivery at a nearby dairy premises on Saturday when the blast - which he initially thought was a problem with his lorry - knocked him off his feet.
He told PA news agency: “I was making delivery at the creamery when the explosion happened and I fell over but I presumed the lorry or the trailer had a problem, that there was a blow-out in the tyre”
“I got out of the lorry and saw the shop and then I knew what happened. We ran to the shop and there was a young girl there and she was squealing that her sisters or friends were still inside.
“We got her across the road then went back and and there was a man stuck under the door. I shouted for the jack of a car and we got the door off him. We couldn’t lift it without the jack; you think you are strong but we couldn’t move it.
He then stayed with the injured man until the ambulance arrived.
Along with local man Bernard McGinley, Mr Kilpatrick continued to pull people out of the rubble for hours, lifting heavy debris to get to them.
He says the "reality" of the situation only hit when he found a young girl buried under the rubble, with the constant possibility of a further explosion adding huge risk to every moment of the rescue.
One of the men he helped take from the scene, James O’Flaherty, sadly passed away.
Colin is now recovering with painkillers after suffering muscle strain from the amount of heavy blocks the team moved during the rescue effort.
The cause of the explosion is currently understood to be a freak accident, with one local theory suggesting a gas leak may be responsible.
In a news conference on Sunday, Gardai revealed the victims were James O Flaherty, 48, Jessica Gallagher, 24, Martin McGill, 49, Catherine O Donnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13, Hugh Kelly, 59, Martina Martin, 49, Robert Garwe, 50, and his daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe, aged five, and 14-year-old Leona Harper.
