Ireland

Creeslough tragedy – cross-border search and rescue effort praised

Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead.
Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead. Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead.

The cross-border search and rescue effort following the devastating service station explosion in Co Donegal has been praised.

Emergency workers from across Northern Ireland joined their colleagues in the Irish republic in the village of Creeslough on Friday afternoon in the desperate search through the rubble.

Those included the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, Ambulance Service and the Air Ambulance.

Deputy chief fire and rescue officer Paul Harper said they sent their specialist rescue team from Belfast along with a command support unit from Strabane to the incident, working with other emergency services into the early hours of Saturday in the hope of rescuing survivors trapped in the rubble.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the solidarity “will be long remembered”.

“We want to pay tribute to all the essential services, those who worked throughout the night, at times in danger, to rescue people and to do everything they could to comfort people,” he said.

“Our emergency services from health, firefighting, gardai, right across the board, all across the north west, and particularly our colleagues in Northern Ireland, fire service and ambulance who came willingly and very quickly to the aid of those impacted by this.

Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead.
Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead. Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead.

“That will be long remembered. That solidarity and that sense of strong community between the essential services.”

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson thanked the emergency services as well as extending his sympathies to the friends and families of the bereaved.

“We want to extend our thanks to all the emergency services for their efforts to save life from both sides of the border including from counties Tyrone and Londonderry, all of whom joined in the rescue efforts,” he told his party conference in Belfast on Saturday afternoon

“This is what being a good neighbour is all about.

“I want to assure the people of Creeslough of our collective prayers, and I want them to know that they will continue to be in our thoughts in the days ahead.”

Within 10 minutes of the explosion at a service station in the Co Donegal village of Creeslough, emergency services had arrived at a chaotic and traumatic scene.

As emergency personnel arrived to find huge concrete blocks, debris and rubble where the building once stood, the scale of the operation ahead became clear.

Civilians were already there using car jacks to try to free trapped people from the large piles of rubble.

The huge rescue operation involved the Irish Coast Guard, the Coast Guard rescue helicopter 118, Irish Air Corps 112, the Northern Ireland Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), the Irish Community Air Ambulance, Northern Ireland Search and Rescue, Donegal Mountain Rescue, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service heart team, Donegal County Council Civil Defence as well as dozens of people from the community in Creeslough.

Superintendent David Kelly of Milford garda station said he did not have to reach out to colleagues – that all came forward for duty.

Garda (police) members from Letterkenny, Ballyshannon and Buncrana all appeared as the news of the tragedy spread.

“That’s what it is to be in Donegal – we look out for each other,” Superintendent Kelly said.

“We have to think of the people from own service who did attend. Resources were initially deployed from the Millford Garda District, assisted by members that were off-duty.

“I’m proud to say that I didn’t have to ask for people to turn out for duty, they came in.”

He also praised the “great assistance” provided by colleagues from the emergency services in Northern Ireland.

Police in Donegal said the blast led to the largest number of civilian casualties in decades, and required an extensive emergency response.

Cafes and local restaurants opened their doors to emergency workers, providing hot drinks and food for the personnel.

A local hotel also block-booked rooms for emergency staff who worked through the night.

Liam Geraghty, from the Garda press office, said workers came across a “very traumatic scene”.

“It was a very confused scene and there was a lot of debris, there were traumatised people already at the scene. Our colleagues will be provided with counselling services to deal with tragic circumstances,” Mr Geraghty added.

A moment of silence was also held at a press conference at Milford garda station for the 10 people who died in the Creeslough explosion.

Seven people are in hospital in Donegal while one patient was transferred to a specialist burns unit hospital in Dublin.

Eight ambulances attended the scene on Friday and three attended on Saturday morning.

Four doctors and four ambulance officers were also involved.

Superintendent Kelly said families have been left devastated by the incident.

“I want to offer, on behalf of myself and my colleagues that attended the scene, our very sincere condolences,” he added.

Garry Martin, director of emergency services at Donegal County Council, said workers will remain on site in Creeslough for the ongoing search and checking phase to ensure there are no remaining casualties in the building.

He said that six fire brigades attended the scene, including 65 firefighters and 20 members of the civil defence, a structural engineer as well as road service personnel.

“I want to acknowledge the assistance from our colleagues in the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, who attended with specialist equipment and search dogs,” Mr Martin added.

“I also want to acknowledge the huge input from the local community who attended in huge numbers and who contributed so much to our efforts.

“Over the course of last day and following detailed analysis of the site, the incident moved into a search and recovery phase. We will remain on site in an ongoing search and check phase to ensure there are no remaining casualties in the building.”

John Joe McGowan, chief ambulance officer for the western region of Ireland’s national ambulance service, said words cannot describe the efforts of emergency services in Creeslough.

“Each and every one of you have gone above and beyond in your response,” he said, extending particular thanks to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Air Ambulance for their support.

“We will continue our efforts and work with our colleagues in the gardai and the fire service until all recovery efforts have concluded.”

Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead.
Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead. Firefighters leave the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal, where ten people have now been confirmed dead.