Two teenagers and a young child are among 10 people confirmed dead in an explosion at an Irish petrol station. Irish police said four men, three women, a teenage girl, a teenage boy and a girl of primary school age were killed in the blast in Creeslough, Co Donegal.
A spokesman for the police, An Garda Siochana, said emergency services do not expect to recover any further victims from the rubble and there are no outstanding missing person reports. Friday afternoon’s explosion ripped through the Applegreen service station and convenience store and adjacent buildings.
The Garda said it believed the cause of the explosion was accidental. A major emergency recovery operation involving first responders from both sides of the Irish border extended through the night on Friday and into Saturday.
At a media conference in Milford, Co Donegal on Saturday afternoon, Garda press spokesman Liam Geraghty said: “The emergency services continue a search and recovery operation at the site this afternoon but based on the information available to An Garda Siochana at this time it is not expected that there will be any further casualties located and there are no outstanding reports of unaccounted for persons. The 10 casualties are four men, three women, two teenagers – a boy and girl, and a younger girl.
“The thoughts of all the emergency service personnel who have attended the scene over the last 24 hours, the local community in Creeslough and the nation are today with the deceased and their families.”