Separate masses was held for fashion designer Jessica Gallagher, 24, who had been due to start a new job on Monday, and Martin McGill, 49, who was originally from Scotland, in St Michael's Church, Creeslough.
Ten people, aged 5 to 59, were killed in the disaster on Friday in the Irish village with an official population of only 393.
At Ms Gallagher’s service, Father John Joe Duffy, who will preside over many of the Creeslough funerals, said Donegal had always been “in her heart”, even while studying in Paris and Shanghai.
“No matter how far she travelled or progressed, the place she was proud of was her beautiful family home — her touchstone, her rock and her pillar,” he said.
“She could talk for all Ireland. So, if you think the homily might be a little long this morning, she would probably go on longer than me."
The family of Jessica Gallagher, 24, watch as her coffin leaves St Michael's Church, Creeslough. PA
A lone piper led Mr McGill’s coffin into St Michael’s and a Celtic FC shirt was brought to the front of the church.
Father Duffy also presided over Mr McGill's service. “Martin was a carer who was filled with love, filled with kindness and compassion,” he said.
“Despite the awful, horrible tragedy that has struck at the very heart of this community and broken our hearts, from the very first moment aren’t those the key words that have been in action in this community but have always been in action in this community.”
A piper leads the cortege for the funeral of Martin McGill in Creeslough. Getty Images
Ireland's police force, An Garda Siochana, is investigating the cause of the blast at a building complex that included the service station, a convenience store and residential apartments, but so far it is being treated as a “tragic accident”.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin told the parliament: “As the people of Creeslough begin the rituals of funerals and burials, we gather as an Oireachtas [parliament] this afternoon, to offer our sincere sympathy, express our shared respect for the bereaved and the injured and to remember and honour those who have died.
“It is important that those struggling to make sense of the enormous and heartbreaking loss now confronting them, know that the entire nation is with them in spirit."
Father John Joe Duffy led two funerals on Tuesday. PA
The other eight victims were Robert Garwe, 50, and his daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe, 5, who were in the shop to buy a birthday cake; James O'Flaherty, 48; Leona Harper, 14; Catherine O'Donnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13; Hugh Kelly, 59; and Martina Martin, 49.
Witness Colin Kilpatrick was only a few metres from the petrol station when the blast ripped through the building and knocked him over.
“I got out of the lorry and saw the shop and then I knew what happened,” he said. "We ran to the shop and there was a young girl there and she was squealing that her sisters or friends were still inside.
Top row, from left, Leona Harper, 14, Robert Garwe, 50, Shauna Flanagan Garwe, five, Jessica Gallagher, 24, and James O'Flaherty, 48, and bottom row, from left, Martina Martin, 49, Hugh Kelly, 59, Catherine O'Donnell, 39, her son James Monaghan, 13, and Martin McGill, 49, the ten victims of the explosion. PA
“We got her across the road then went back and there was a man stuck under the door. I shouted for the jack of a car and we got the door off him.
“We couldn't lift it without the jack; you think you are strong but we couldn't move it. We stayed with him until the ambulance came just to comfort him.”
A funeral has been arranged for O'Flaherty in St Mary's Church in Derrybeg on Wednesday.
A joint service will be held for O'Donnell and her son at St Michael's in Creeslough, also on Wednesday.
Harper’s funeral will take place at St Mary's Church in Ramelton on Thursday.
Brighton and Hove Albion v Southampton (5.30pm)
Leicester City v Everton (8pm)
MONDAY
Burnley v Newcastle United (midnight)
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
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The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Florence and the Machine – High as Hope
Three stars
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Opening Rugby Championship fixtures: Games can be watched on OSN Sports Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE) Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
SCHEDULE FOR SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - from 4pm (UAE time)
Angelique Kerber (1) v Irina Falconi
Martin Klizan v Novak Djokovic (2)
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Roger Federer (3)
Court One - from 4pm
Milos Raonic (6) v Jan-Lennard Struff
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Evgeniya Rodina
Dominic Thiem (8) v Vasek Pospisil
Court Two - from 2.30pm
Juan Martin Del Potro (29) v Thanasi Kokkinakis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Jelena Jankovic
Jeremy Chardy v Tomas Berdych (11)
Ons Jabeur v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo Power: 235hp Torque: 350Nm Transmission: Nine-speed automatic Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000) On sale: Now
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area. Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife. Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”. He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale. Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
