Son of Australian killed in Irish blast escaped by seconds
The first funeral of the Ireland explosion victims will be held for Sydney man James O’Flaherty, as it was revealed his 12-year-old son narrowly escaped the blast.
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The son of Australian James O’Flaherty narrowly escaped serious injury by ducking just as a petrol station exploded in Ireland’s North West.
Hamish O’Flaherty, 12, was sitting in his father’s car when the Applegreen service station exploded in flames on Friday local time, neighbour Dr Daniel Gill told the Irish Examiner.
“Hamish had a just wee cut in his hand which I just cleaned up and put a wee dressing on but that was his only injury and he was in the forecourt in a car,” Dr Gill said.
“You know? He was in his father’s car – a big Volvo, which they are attributing to saving him – a big, big heavy old Volvo great car.
“He said he just dropped something and he just kind of bent down when that happened, so all the glass shattered but it shattered over him.
“He wasn’t sitting by the window, he was bending down to get something off the floor … So that saved him from a significant injury.”
Mr O’Flaherty, 48, was said to be walking back to the car at the time of the explosion. Dr Gill added to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland radio program that Mr O’Flaherty was “very, very attached” to his son Hamish.
“He was a lovely man, quiet, humorous, he was from Australia and I’m also half-Australian, so we had lots to talk about,” Dr Gill said.
“I found out he had died when I got to the scene, it was shocking.”
KING CHARLES’ HEARTFELT MESSAGE
King Charles has offered his condolences to the families of victims involved in the Irish petrol blast that killed 10 people including an Australian man on Friday.
The King released a statement expressing his “immense sadness” over the tragedy.
“My wife and I were filled with immense sadness when we heard of that appallingly tragic explosion at Creeslough, County Donegal,” King Charles said.
“We remember with the greatest fondness meeting people from across Donegal when we visited in 2016 and the strong sense of community that exists there.
“However inadequate this may be under such shattering circumstances, we wanted you to know that our most heartfelt sympathy and deepest condolences are with those families and friends who have lost their loved ones in this devastating tragedy, together with yourself and the people of Ireland,” the monarch added.
James O’Flaherty, formerly of Sydney, has been named as one of 10 people who died in a petrol station explosion on Friday in Creeslough, in Ireland’s northwest.
The 48-year-old father was an engineering director with US-based company Jabil, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Four men, three women, two teenagers and a primary-school aged girl died in the blast that flattened an Applegreen service station and damaged a nearby apartment complex, Irish police said.
Mr O’Flaherty, 48, Jessica Gallagher, 24, Martin McGill, 49, Catherine O’Donnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13, Hugh Kelly, 59, Martina Martin, 49, Robert Garwe, 50, and his daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe, five, and Leona Harper, 14, were yesterday named as the victims.
A further eight people were injured, including one who is in a critical condition.
Two two-storey residential buildings behind the petrol station collapsed, while the facade of a similar adjacent building was blown off in the explosion.
Resident Kieran Gallagher, whose house is about 150 metres from the scene, said the blast sounded like a “bomb”.
“I was in my house at the time and heard the explosion. Instantly I knew it was something – it was like a bomb going off,” Mr Gallagher told the BBC.
At a service at the local church on Saturday morning, Father John Joe Duffy said the community had been hit by “a tsunami of grief”.
Police are investigating the cause of the blast, which Superintendent David Kelly said looked like a “tragic accident”.
Mr O’Flaherty’s funeral will take place on Wednesday in Ireland.
He was originally from Sydney but lived in Rineclevan, Dunfanaghy, with wife Tracey and son Hamish.
Ireland’s premier Micheal Martin called it a “very dark day”.
“The scale and enormity of it, it’s such a small community, it means that almost everybody will know on a friendly basis people who’ve lost their lives,” Mr Martin said.
“It’s a very dark day for the people of Donegal and for Ireland.
“This is a scale of death and injury that we do not want to see happening as people go about their daily lives.”
“A young child in the shop loses her life, and two teenagers,” Mr Martin said.
“It is truly a shocking, tragic event that has brought an incredible toll on this community.”
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, who represents northeast Donegal in the Irish parliament, compared the scenes to events during the decades-long sectarian conflict on the island of Ireland over British rule in Northern Ireland.
“People are shocked and numbed,” McConalogue told Irish broadcaster RTE.
“The scenes from the event are reminiscent of the images from The Troubles years ago, in terms of the scene on the ground and the damage and the debris.”
Creeslough is about 50 kilometres from the border with Northern Ireland and has a population of about 400 people.
Service station company Applegreen tweeted that the news was “devastating”.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the deceased, those who have been injured, and the wider Creeslough community,” said the company.
– With AFP
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