Creeslough explosion: Village bids farewell to more blast victims

In a coffee shop in Creeslough, 10 candles flicker on the counter to remember those killed in the explosion that has devastated the village.

No money passes through the till.

Instead, a donation is asked for, with the money going towards the community support fund set up within recent days.

It has been another difficult day in a week without compare here.

As it was on Tuesday, two funerals were held just hours apart on Wednesday.

In a tranquil Irish-speaking part of the county, hundreds of mourners came together for the funeral of James O'Flaherty.

They hugged as they stood outside St Mary's Church in Derrybeg.

Mr O'Flaherty lived for his wife and son, whom the priest described as a "very brave and a courageous young man".

Mourners had come to pay their respects to a father, husband, an Australian who had made this area home.

Uniformed children from Faugher National School, where Mr O'Flaherty's son Hamish had been a pupil, formed a guard of honour to meet the cortège and welcome the Irish President, Michael D Higgins.

Irish president Michael D Higgins attended both funerals on Wednesday

Locals say the president is most welcome - they know the scale of their tragedy reverberates nationally and even further afield.

Many at Wednesday morning's service will have travelled through the Poisoned Glen, an area of rugged beauty that belies its name.

Many too will have made the journey back to the afternoon funeral service taking place in Creeslough.

There are those who will be at every service over the coming days.

"We keep going because we have to keep going," a woman tells BBC News NI as she stands on Creeslough's Main Street.

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Moments later, heads are bowed and silence falls again as two hearses pass.

They carry a mother and her 13-year-old son.

Catherine O'Donnell and James Monaghan had been queuing at the post office in the village petrol station when the explosion happened last Friday.

Their funeral cortege made its way to St Michael's Church, along a street they would have walked often.

On the way into this village, some stood silently at the roadside.

A community in mourning gathered together again.

Five of those killed have now been laid to rest.

Leona Harper and Martina Martin will be buried on Thursday.