A MAN WHO was arrested yesterday in connection with the Creeslough explosion in Co Donegal in which 10 people died has been released without charge.

The man, aged in his 60s, voluntarily presented himself at Dundalk Garda Station yesterday morning, his solicitor Joe Rice confirmed.

He had been arrested for alleged offences contrary to the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 and was detained at a Garda station in the Garda North Western Region.

A garda spokesperson said a file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions after the man was released without charge.

The spokesperson added that the investigation continues to be led by local gardaí and supported by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and other agencies including the Health and Safety Authority and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities.

The ongoing investigation is co-ordinated from Milford Garda station, where an Incident Room has been established under the direction of a Senior Investigating Officer.

Four men, three women and three children, ranging in age from five to 59, died in the blast at the village’s Applegreen service station and a nearby apartment block on the afternoon of Friday 7 October.

(Top row, l to r) Leona Harper, Robert Garwe, Shauna Flanagan Garwe, Jessica Gallagher, and James O’Flaherty, and (bottom row, left to right) Martina Martin, Hugh Kelly, Catherine O’Donnell, her son James Monaghan, and Martin McGill.

Those who died were Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe; Catherine O’Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan; fashion student Jessica Gallagher; Celtic fan Martin McGill; Sydney native James O’Flaherty; shop worker Martina Martin; carpenter Hugh “Hughie” Kelly; and 14-year-old Leona Harper.