Creeslough priest: 'It was harrowing, praying as the bodies came out'
Father John Joe Duffy lights 10 red candles at St Michael's Church in Creeslough, Co Donegal. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA
The parish priest of Creeslough in Co Donegal has said that having to pray over the bodies of some of those who died in an explosion at the Applegreen service station on Friday was one of the most difficult things he has ever had to do.
Speaking on Sunday, Father John Joe Duffy said most of those who died were known to him personally.
"They were part of our family, because our community is like our family.
"We know each other so well, we're in contact on an almost daily basis," he said.
"I stood with members of the local community, members of the emergency services, as people were being brought out, together with Father Pat McGarvey, a native of the parish here. There was one and both of us present for all the people who came out and prayed with the families.
He said it was "harrowing", praying with those waiting for an update on their loved ones.
"You could see in people's eyes, that sadness.
"It was just harrowing to be there for the people who didn't know, and it was harrowing for those who were trying to help them.
"When each person was brought of the building, the silence that was there, that silence spoke in itself to us," he said.
"When each fatality was being brought away the place went silent, everyone went silent. It was something that I had never experienced before."
Fr Duffy said a Mass held in memory of those killed was "very moving" and that he was heartened by those who attended to show their support to the community.
"I could feel that empathy. What was very moving was the presence of those who had been involved in the search and recovery operation, as it turned out to be."
"The chief fire officer and his people, members of the coast guard, members of the gardaí, and the people who stood with us, members of the ambulance services, doctors, paramedics, and different people who came there to be with us.
"That meant so very much to us."
Fr Duffy said that the community in Creeslough "are being carried by the prayers of the nation, from north to south, east to west, and from those from our parish and other communities".
From such a small community, Fr Duffy said the scale of Friday's tragedy was "enormous."
"Ten people dead. And those that are injured, we're praying very much for them."
Asked how he can even begin to console people in the face of such tragedy, Fr Duffy said "you just be there for people."
"There really are no words, just whatever words of comfort you can give them. Just to be a presence for people," he told RTÉ Radio's .
"You just offer them whatever hope you can.
"We are a strong community, and we are trying to carry each other."
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