Emergency services attend the scene following an explosion in Creeslough, in the north west of Ireland on October 8, 2022. - At least nine people have been killed in an explosion at a petrol station in County Donegal in Ireland's northwest, police sa The death toll from a gas station explosion that shattered a small village in northwest Ireland rose to nine on Saturday, as emergency workers combed through piles of rubble for people who are still missing.Irish police said they did not expect to find any more survivors from Friday's explosion in Creeslough, County Donegal.
Eight people have been hospitalized after the blast destroyed the Applegreen service station in the community of about 400 people near Ireland's rugged Atlantic coast."The search and recovery for further fatalities continues," said the police force, An Garda Siochana.
The cause of the blast is under investigation.Emergency responders from Ireland and neighboring Northern Ireland were involved in what police said was now a "search and recovery" operation.
Sniffer dogs combed the debris, and a mechanical digger lifted piles of rubble from the site.The explosion leveled the gas station building, which holds the main shop and post office for the village, damaged an adjacent apartment building and shattered the windows in nearby cottages."There were blocks thrown a hundred yards away from the scene," local medic Dr.