Creeslough braced for funerals of explosion victims
The first funerals take place in St Michael's Church in Creeslough on Tuesday
The first funerals of the ten people killed in a horrific explosion in Creeslough on Friday will take place today.
Jessica Gallagher, a 24-year-old fashion designer, will be the first of the victims to be laid to rest.
At St Michael’s Church in grief-stricken Creeslough, her funeral mass will be celebrated at 11am, after which she will be buried in Doe cemetery.
This afternoon, a congregation of many of the same mourners will gather in the same church for the funeral of 49-year-old Martin McGill, who will also be buried in Doe Cemetery.
On Wednesday morning, the funeral of James O’Flaherty will be held in Derrybeg.
Catherine O’Donnell (39) and her son James Monaghan (13) will be laid to rest on Wednesday afternoon in Doe Cemetery following Funeral Mass at 2pm in St Michael’s Church, Creeslough.
The funeral of Martina Martin, a mother-of-four who was killed in the Creeslough explosion, will take place on Thursday.
Martina was working in the shop in Creeslough when she lost her life on Friday.
Her funeral will be held on Thursday at 11am in St Michael’s Church, Creeslough, followed by cremation in Lakelands Crematorium at 5pm.
The funeral of Leona Harper, the 14-year-old girl killed in Friday’s explosion, will be held on Thursday.
A student at Mulroy College in Milford, Leona, from 1 Mullaghban, Mountain Top Letterkenny, will be laid to rest following funeral mass in St Mary’s Church, Ramelton at 2pm.
The avid Liverpool FC fan and sportswoman will then interred in Termon graveyard.
“Our hearts are broken,” parish priest Fr John Joe Duffy, who will preside at the funerals of the deceased, said.
“We suffer the loss, we all sense the pain. The days ahead will be difficult days. I wish there was some easier way, but unfortunately there is not.”
Five-year-old Shauna Flanagan Garwe and her father, Robert Garwe (50) and Hugh Kelly (59) also lost their lives in the explosion.