Creeslough: Two arrests over fatal County Donegal explosion

The service station and an apartment block were ripped apart by the blast

Two men have been arrested in connection with an explosion at a petrol station in County Donegal which killed 10 people in 2022.

A five-year old girl was among the victims of the blast in Creeslough on 7 October.

The men, aged in their 50s, were detained on Friday.

Gardaí (Irish police) said they were being questioned over alleged offences contrary to the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

Creeslough is a small village in the north-west of Ireland, about 15 miles (24km) from Letterkenny and 30 miles (48km) from the border with Northern Ireland.

It has a population of about 400 people.

The victims - four men, three women, two teenagers and a five-year-old girl - were from the village or surrounding areas.

On the first anniversary of the tragedy, Gardaí said their investigation had been continuing "as expeditiously as possible, in the circumstances" to ensure issues around the tragedy are "professionally investigated".

At the time, Gardaí revealed that they had opened more than 1,350 lines of inquiry and taken in excess of 900 statements.

Friday's arrests are the first to be made in connection with the explosion by police.

Gardaí previously said the incident was being treated as a tragic accident, with a gas leak believed to be one theory.

The investigation is being co-ordinated from Milford Garda station, with support from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI), Garda Síochána Analysis Service (GSAS) and Garda Technical Bureau.

Irish police are also being assisted by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) and the Norwegian company DNV, which specialises in investigating and testing energy systems.

The blast resulted in the highest number of civilian casualties in a single incident in the county in decades.

Eight people were treated in hospital for their injuries.