The number of dead had risen from seven to nine, the police said at noon. “The search for more victims continues,” she added. Eight people were hospitalized.
However, the police gave no explanation as to the origin of this explosion, which occurred in the village of Creeslough on Friday afternoon.
An aerial view taken after the explosion shows the destroyed gas station building. Two two-story apartment buildings behind it collapsed.
Local resident Kieran Gallagher, whose home is about 150 meters from the scene, said the explosion made him think of a “bomb”: “I was at home when I heard an explosion. (…) It was like a bomb,” he told the BBC.
The emergency services worked all night. The rubble was further removed on Saturday.
Irish Police, Fire Brigade, Ambulance and Coastguard, Northern Ireland Air Ambulance and a team of provincial specialists were on the scene on Saturday.
Letterkenny University Hospital, 15 miles from the gas station, was placed in an emergency situation and said in a statement it was treating “multiple injuries”.
damage and debris
In a statement, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said his “thoughts and prayers (are) today with those who lost their lives and were injured in this devastating blast”.
“The islanders are struck by this tragic loss of life with the same sense of shock and utter devastation as the people of Creeslough,” he said, thanking the emergency services members who worked “all night in extremely traumatic circumstances”.
Agriculture Secretary Charlie McConalogue, an elected official from the blast-hit region, compared the scenes of the devastation to those of the Northern Ireland conflict in the second half of the 20th century. “The locations of the event are reminiscent of images from The Troubles years ago in terms of the damage and debris.”
For three decades, the conflict in Northern Ireland pitted itself against nationalists, mainly Catholics, who favored the reunification of the island of Ireland, and loyalists, mainly Protestants, who clung to keeping the province under the British Crown. This conflict cost the lives of around 3,500 people.
About fifty kilometers from the border with Northern Ireland, the village of Creelough has about 400 inhabitants.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the dead, those injured and the wider Creeslough community,” tweeted Applegreen, who owns the stricken gas station.