Almost €180,000 already raised for families in Cresslough after ten people killed in explosion

Almost €180,000 has been pledged to bereaved families and those injured in Friday’s explosion in Creeslough.

A fundraiser set up by a Creeslough man now living in Australia has captured hearts all over the world with a shellshocked community left ‘totally heartbroken’.

Ten people, among them a five-year-old girl, a teenage boy and a teenage girl, lost their lives in the horrific blast. Four men and three women were also killed.

Gerard McFadden, a Creeslough native based in Brisbane, set up a GoFundMe page with an ever-growing tally reaching €145,000 on Sunday morning. You can donate by clicking here

Gerard is a son of Ben McFadden, the former Creeslough Community Association chairman who was so active in a range of organisation and who died in May.

Writing on the GoFundMe page, Gerard said: “Overwhelmed by your generous donations, we have reached our goal already, let’s hope we can raise even more for all the families effected.”

One anonymous person donated €5,000.

From Monday, An Post will be accepting donations for a special Creeslough Community Support Fund.

All 920 Post Offices nationwide will accept donations, which will be channelled through the Red Cross to provide support and services to those who are bereaved, injured or made homeless by the tragedy.

Ten victims who lost their lives in Cresslough explosion named by Gardai

Superintendent outlines next steps with Creeslough investigation to begin

Following the completion of the search and rescue operation in Creeslough that left 10 fatalities, Garda superintendent Liam Geraghty said the next steps will see an investigation commence into how an explosion took place

The Creeslough community is attempting to come to terms with the sheer scale of the devastation.

“We can not begin to comprehend what has happened in our beautiful community in the last 24 hours,” the St Michael’s GAA club said.

“We are totally heartbroken. We will keep all our friends and their families in our thoughts and prayers for now and the foreseeable future.”

“We will be in contact with everyone in the coming days and if anyone needs any help please let us know even if its just to talk.”