Excavator driver refused to stop until he found body of 14-year-old girl killed in train station blast

Donna Harper, the mother of Leona Harper who died in the Creeslough petrol station explosion, explained how rescuers kept looking for the daughter's body until she is found

Leona Harper, 14, was among ten victims (

Image: PA)

The mother of a teenage girl who was killed in an explosion has opened up about the tragic accident and how her daughter was lost in the rubble for 24 hours after the blast.

Donna Harper, mother of 14-year-old Leona Harper, has revealed that a backhoe driver refused to stop looking for her daughter's body after she was dismissed by law enforcement. emergency.

Leona was at the Applegreen petrol station in Creeslough, County Donegal, when the disaster struck last Friday afternoon. She was inside the gas station choosing an ice cream with her friend.

The explosion occurred at the gas station at 3:20 p.m., and 10 people lost their lives.

The incident occurred on the afternoon of Friday, October 7 (

Picture:

PENNSYLVANIA)

Speaking yesterday, Donna said: "We're just trying to hold it together as best we can. There really are no words. We would just like to say thank you to everyone who was there Friday."

She arrived with her eldest son, Anthony, 22, about half an hour after the explosion. She said: “There were a lot of different things that were said. I was told she was trapped in there, but we were also told there was a high possibility she was on her way to the hospital. Much later everyone was found in the hospital and then we realized that Leona hadn't made it."