Petrol station explosion kills 10 in Ireland

Ten people, including two teenagers and a younger girl, were killed in an explosion at a petrol station in Donegal, Ireland.

The police, on Saturday, said no more casualties were expected from the explosion which happened shortly after 3 p.m. local time on Friday at the Applegreen petrol station on the outskirts of the village of Creeslough.

The dead, who were all from the local area, also included four men and three women. Eight people are being treated in hospital, including one with critical injuries who was airlifted to Dublin.

“We have to keep an open mind as a police service in how we investigate this but our information at this point in time is pointing towards a tragic accident,” Superintendent David Kelly told a news conference.

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Photographs from the scene showed a two-storey apartment block above the petrol station’s store with walls blown out and a partially collapsed roof, and debris scattered across the forecourt where several cars were parked.

Irish Prime Minister, Micheal Martin, said the incident was an unspeakable tragedy for a small community of just a few hundred people.

“People across this island will be numbed by the same sense of shock and utter devastation as the people of Creeslough at this tragic loss of life.

“I wish to express my deepest sympathies to their family, and friends, and to the entire community of Creeslough, on this darkest of days for Donegal and the entire country,” Martin said in a statement on Friday night.

British Foreign Minister, James Cleverly, also extended his sympathies to the victims’ families.

The Star