‘Just numbness’: Nurse who aided global disasters among first on Creeslough scene

A former intensive care nurse from Letterkenny with experience in humanitarian aid missions across the world was among the first on the scene of Friday’s explosion in Creeslough.

Afric McGlade was travelling from Letterkenny to Marble Hill to visit her mother and planned to stop at Lafferty’s shop to buy milk.

As she turned a familiar corner of the N56, she was greeted at first by a back-up of traffic. It wasn’t long before the true horror was before her.

“There was just a numbness,” she said.

“I just went to see what I could do. You could see people were already working quite systematically. They worked so methodically.

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“I was helped in to a gentleman who was underneath the debris. One man held up a large beam to protect us. All they wanted to do was to keep people safe.

“People weren’t panicked. People also realised how dangerous it was and had to keep people away. They tried to get people out to safety and away from the danger zone.

“When we came out, I looked at the walking wounded and helped to put dressings on some children who had wounds. They were so good they were conscious and able to recount what had happened.

“You just do what you can. The emergency services arrived so quickly and were amazing.”

Ms McGlade, whose family formerly owned the Shandon Hotel, was in Indonesia in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004 - a tragedy that killed 227,898 and in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake that left an estimated 160,000 dead.

Little did she think that on a routine Friday, she would have to rush to a tragedy so close to her doorstep.

She said: “It was unimaginable. The shocking this is that it was on the doorstep. That is the thing that has got so many people; any one of us could have been in there, just passing.

“It has been said over and over again, but just that thing of people popping in for milk or a newspaper or whatever everyday task. Worldwide, everyone has connected with it and seen what a community will do.”

Afric’s own journey towards Creeslough had been slowed, which ensured she wasn’t in the complex at the time of the blast. Her’s is one of the many near-miss stories of a surreal Friday afternoon that changed Creeslough forever.

She said:  “It is a journey I do all the time and two random events occurred, which delayed me by a number of minutes. Otherwise, I would have been in buying milk for my mother.

“As we approached Creeslough, there a number of cars and I thought a lorry had spilled its load when I saw people clearing the road. I actually started to turn the car to take a diversion when I saw someone I know. She was telling the other cars what had happened.

“The randomness of it is something that everyone can connect with. I don’t even think that I was nearly there.  It is wonderful to see the support the people are getting.”

Afric’s experience includes spells on humanitarian visits to countries in the developing world.

She spent time in Sudan in the 1980s, returning again in 2001, and assisted in Uganda, Philippines, Nepal, Calcutta, Bangladesh and Zaire in the 1990s.

Tears flow as Afric recounts the experience of falling asleep at around 5am on Saturday with three people confirmed dead.

“When I got up a short time later it was up to seven . . . then nine and later ten.

“I was insulated from it all in Letterkenny. So many people come to visit this part of the world.  We know so many of them and they know the area so well.

“You feel almost as if you don’t have a right to grieve because there are others who are more closely connected. So many people are grieving worldwide and they want a connection.”