Gardai have said they will now focus their attention on the cause of the huge explosion which has ripped the heart from the village of Creeslough.
Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty said the more technical details of the investigation will now commence.
“The Garda investigation has now commenced following the completion of the search and rescue,” he said.
“The investigation will take a period of time and the Technical Bureau will be on the scene in the coming days and agencies and other sections within An Garda Siochana.
“That investigation will take a period of time and the investigation is there to investigate the cause.
“There will be technical investigations, although they may not be the same level of activity that we saw during the search and rescue investigation but there will be continuing, as the experts determine what we need to do.”
Supt. Geraghty, stationed with the Garda Press Office in Dublin, was speaking at a press briefing close to the scene.
Watch here:
He said everyone in the community of Creeslough and in the surrounding areas had been hit in some way by the tragedy.
“This has had a huge impact to the community. These are all local people. They are all very much involved in the community, people who were just shopping in their local shop.
“We have young schoolchildren so the schools will be impacted, the GAA club locally will be impacted. The community will be severely impacted, as will family, friends and neighbours.
“I’m sure the community will continue to come together as they did since Friday. It was a very traumatic scene and the emergency services, and indeed our colleagues from Northern Ireland, were involved and this, processed with dealing with recovery or fatality at the scene.”
And he said that his own members will also be affected by the tragedy.
“Within the Garda Siochana we have a wide range of support for our members. That is similar in other agencies as well.
“This will have an impact on our members who have young children themselves. Most of these are local guards and would’ve dealt with the people of this locality on a local basis.”
