Creeslough explosion: Father of teenage victim says family's 'grief is frozen in time' four years on

The father of a 14-year-old girl killed in the Creeslough service station explosion has spoken of his family's enduring anguish as they approach the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, describing their search for answers as "torture and torment".

Leona Harper was one of ten people who lost their lives when a blast tore through the Applegreen service station in the County Donegal village on 7 October 2022. The schoolgirl had travelled to Creeslough for a sleepover and was going into the shop to buy ice-cream when the explosion occurred.

Four years later, her father Hugh Harper says the family home remains a shrine to his daughter's memory. Leona's coat is still hanging in the hallway, soil from the pitch where she played her final rugby match remains on her boots, and her bedroom has been left exactly as she left it.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme, Mr Harper said the absence of any official explanation for the cause of the blast had left the family trapped in a cycle of unanswered questions. "You are trying to establish answers yourself – but it takes you down a maze of rabbit holes," he said. "One question leads to another and it just feels like torture and torment."

No cause has been publicly established for the explosion, and despite a number of arrests, no one has been charged in connection with the blast. Gardaí (Irish police) sent a second file to the Director of Public Prosecutions in April, in addition to a primary file forwarded to prosecutors last September.

Mr Harper said the family's grief had become suspended in time, unable to move forward without knowing what happened to his daughter in her final moments. "Every day, we grieve for our little girl – we are stuck on the 7th October 2022," he said. "When I get up in the morning, the first thought I have is about Leona and the questions around her last moments. Until we have answers – our grief is frozen in time."

The Harpers, along with other victims' families, are campaigning for a public inquiry into the explosion. Mr Harper argued that only a sworn inquiry has the legal power to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath and establish definitive answers. "We are steadfast on that – a public inquiry is the only tool to compel people to be questioned under oath and get definitive answers," he said. In July, families met with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin to press their case.

Mr Harper described the ordeal of losing a child with no warning, saying no parent expects such a tragedy to arrive at their door. "We go home every evening to a house that's not the same – we are still trying to adjust to that," he said. "You never expect something like this to come to your door as a parent and when it does, and it was so sudden, it is very hard."

He recalled the bond he shared with his daughter from the very beginning of her life. "When Leona was born, I was the first to hold her," he said. "I made her a promise that I would keep her safe and not let anything happen to her and unfortunately, I couldn't keep that promise."

Despite that, he said he feels his daughter's presence remains with him and he is determined to honour the commitment he made to her. "But even though Leona is not physically here, I feel she is still with me," he said. "And I will continue with the promise, even in death. I will do my best to protect her name and get to the bottom of exactly what happened in Creeslough that day. I will leave no stone unturned."

A commemoration service will be held in Creeslough on Wednesday to remember the ten victims of the explosion. The blast caused extensive damage to the service station building, blowing apart much of its roof and exposing broken wooden trusses, a large metal beam and partly collapsed internal block walls.

In a statement to BBC News NI, a spokesperson for the Irish Department of Justice said Minister Jim O'Callaghan's thoughts remain with the families, loved ones, survivors and the wider Creeslough community as the anniversary approaches. The spokesperson said the focus of the investigation remains on ensuring the investigative processes are allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice so that the full facts can be established.

Gardaí also issued a statement on the anniversary, saying "the victims, their families and the community are in our thoughts". The force renewed its appeal for anyone with information about the fatal explosion to come forward and speak to garda investigators.

The families' long campaign for a public inquiry reflects a broader pattern in Irish and UK disaster investigations, where relatives of victims have repeatedly argued that criminal investigations alone cannot deliver the accountability and transparency that only a sworn public inquiry can provide. Such inquiries typically have the power to compel testimony, examine state and corporate failures, and publish findings that shape future safety regulation.

For the Harper family, however, the immediate focus is Wednesday's commemoration – a return to the village where Leona's life ended. Mr Harper said the family will travel to Creeslough to remember their daughter alongside the other victims, four years after a Friday afternoon trip to a shop became the last time they would see her alive.