12-year-old son of Creeslough blast victim James O'Flaherty escaped injury by seconds

Tue, 11 Oct, 2022 - 06:56

Neil Michael, Stephen Maguire, and Cate McCurry

As the tight-knit community of Creeslough prepares to bury the first victims of last week’s devastating explosion, news has emerged of one young boy who lost his father to the blast but himself escaped serious injury.

Hamish O’Flaherty, whose father James died in the explosion, was sitting in his father’s Volvo in the service station forecourt at 3.20pm last Friday, looking out the passenger window.

The 12-year-old dropped something in the car and leaned forward to pick it up just as the explosion, which claimed the lives of 10 people, destroyed the service station and adjacent apartment block.

Dr Daniel Gill, a neighbour of the O’Flaherty family, said Hamish’s actions “saved him from a significant injury”.

News of the 12-year-old’s escape emerged as distraught families paid tribute to their loved ones.

Donna Harper told Highland Radio yesterday that she was initially told her 14-year-old daughter Leona might have made it to a hospital, only to discover it was a mistake and the teenager “didn’t make it out”. Leona’s body, the last to be retrieved from the ruins of the service station, was only recovered on Saturday afternoon, 24 hours after the blast.

Donna also thanked the driver who refused to give up trying to get Leona out until the very end.

The 14-year-old’s father Hugh described her as “like everybody else’s daughter”. But, his voice breaking as he spoke, saying: “To us, she was very special. She is going to be very sorely missed”.

Local men Colin Kilpatrick and Bernard McGinley assisted in the rescue effort, describing it as “unreal” and “unimaginable”.

Mr McGinley’s daughter works in the shop part-time, but was not working at the time of the explosion.

“It hit me that my daughter could have been there,” he added. “I knew everyone in the shop." He continued:

It hits hard. The first man Colin tried to rescue died in his arms. My memory is better because it is rescuing a little girl and she is OK. That’s what I will hang on to.

The first of the funeral services take place today, with a service for Jessica Gallagher taking place at 11am in St Michael’s in Creeslough.

It will be followed by Martin McGill’s funeral at 2pm.

The funeral for James O’Flaherty will be held in the Gaeltacht village of Derrybeg in Gweedore, northwest Donegal, on Wednesday.

It will be followed by the service for Catherine O’Donnell and her 13-year-old son James in St Michael’s, Creeslough.

President Michael D Higgins will be represented at today’s funerals as he is in Europe on official business and is unable to attend in person.

He will return to Ireland tomorrow night and will be in Donegal from Wednesday to attend the rest of the funerals, meeting bereaved families and members of the emergency services.

Gardaí are continuing to investigate “all of the circumstances” regarding the cause of the fatal explosion.

The Garda Technical Bureau, with assistance from other agencies, continues to examine the scene, which remains cordoned off.

Tonnes of rubble and debris from the explosion site have been put under Garda surveillance at an undisclosed location outside the town, awaiting examination.

Dozens of local contractors used tractors and trailers to remove the debris from the scene.

Meanwhile, community leaders held a meeting at the Creeslough Day Centre to determine what to do now that the whole Applegreen complex, which included a post office and a hardware store, as well as a supermarket, is now gone.

Separately, the amount raised by a GoFundme page set up by a Creeslough man living in Australia had raised €303,040 by 6pm today after setting an initial goal of €20,000.

Alongside this is a fundraising joint venture between An Post, the Irish Red Cross, and Applegreen, allowing members of the public to donate at their local post office or Applegreen service station.