Documentary hears accounts of Creeslough eyewitnesses

The scene of the devastation in Creeslough. Picture: NW Newspix

Eyewitnesses to the Creeslough explosion speak for the first time in a new documentary airing this evening.

Ten people lost their lives in the disaster in the Co Donegal village.

A new documentary is to air on TG4 tonight, Iniúchadh TG4 — An Craoslach, which will give eyewitness accounts of what it was like on the tragic day in October.

One man, a butcher named Pádraig O'Donnell, tells the documentary of how the explosion was "like a scene from a horror movie".

He says: "It was a Friday, and the place was very busy. I was just returning to the butcher counter when the next thing, bang. There was an explosion. It was very big and very loud. It was just unbelievable. It was a terrible scene.” 

Pádraig O'Donnell spoke of the 'terrible scene' in the aftermath of the explosion. 

Although he suffered from shock himself, he managed to bring a pensioner — who was standing amid the debris and covered in dust — out the back door of the building. The lady was one of the first people rescued.

He added: "She was shocked and was very quiet, and we did not speak. Outside the shop, there were just bricks and debris everywhere. I hadn’t an idea what had happened, it was a terrible scene.” 

Digger driver Henry Gallagher, who worked at the scene of the tragedy, also speaks publicly for the first time in the documentary. Mr Gallagher remained in the cab of his excavator for twenty-four hours, removing rubble from the collapsed building until the last body was taken out.

He said in an interview: "You just see a river of high-vis vests (behind me) and I know that among that, there are families waiting on news. The only way that they are going to get the news of a loved one being taken out, is for me to get in.”

The documentary will be broadcast on TG4 tonight at 9.30pm and focuses on the rescue effort carried out by the people of Creeslough in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

It comes as the family of two people who died in the explosion criticised the timing of the documentary.

The victims of the Creeslough explosion: (top row, left to right) Leona Harper, 14, Robert Garwe, 50, Shauna Flanagan Garwe, five, Jessica Gallagher, 24, and James O'Flaherty, 48, and (bottom row, left to right) Martina Martin, 49, Hugh Kelly, 59, Catherine O'Donnell, 39, her 13-year-old son James Monaghan, and Martin McGill, 49.

Áine Flanagan’s partner, Robert Garwe, and daughter, Shauna Flanagan Garwe, died in the explosion.

Ms Flanagan’s brother, Killian Flanagan, told RTE's Liveline on Tuesday that families were not consulted about the programme and that his sister "hadn't slept a wink" since hearing that it was to be aired.

He said: "This should not be the first representation of what happened.

"Why they would put the needs of sensationalism ahead of the needs of the victims' families, I just don’t get it".

He added: "This is too traumatising three months in to put anyone through at this point in time".