A man in his 40s has been arrested as part of the Garda investigation into the Creeslough tragedy.
Ten people lost their lives following an explosion at a service station in the Co Donegal village on October 7th, 2022.
This is the sixth arrest in connection with the investigation. All those arrested so far have been questioned and released without charge.
Gardaí confirmed that a man aged in his 40s had been arrested on Friday morning for “alleged offences contrary to the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997″.
RM Block
“This male is currently detained under the provisions of Section 4 Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a Garda station in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.”
A Garda representative said the investigation into the fatal explosion at a building complex in Creeslough is continuing, co-ordinated from Milford Garda station where an incident room has been set up.
The investigation continues to be led by gardaí in the Donegal division, supported by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) and other agencies including the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU).
It is widely suspected that a gas leak at the building, which also contacted a number of apartments, caused the explosion at the Applegreen filling station.
The victims of the tragedy were: Leona Harper (14); James Monaghan (13) and his mother, Catherine O’Donnell, (39); Robert Garwe (50) and his daughter, Shauna Flanagan Garwe (5); Martin McGill (49); Jessica Gallagher (24); James O’Flaherty (48); Martina Martin (49); and Hugh Kelly (59).
The latest arrest comes just days after a sister of one of the victims said families of the bereaved were being “left in the dark” about the investigation.
Lisa Gallagher, a sister of the late Jessica Gallagher, said families could not move on with their lives as the third anniversary of the tragedy approaches.
“It’s very hard to heal and get on with things when you have no answers, when you have no closure,” she said.
“We feel left in the dark about what is going on. The guards haven’t given us any information [and] no one seems to be willing to help us either.”