Nine people were killed and eight people hospitalized in an explosion at a gas filling station in the northwest of Ireland, local authorities said on Saturday.

In a statement released Saturday the Irish Police said they could “now confirm nine fatalities as a result of this incident. The search and recovery for further fatalities continues.”

Emergency services are responding to an incident that took place at an Applegreen Service Station in the village of Creeslough shortly after 3 pm on Friday, October 7.

The Sligo-based Irish Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 118 and the Mulroy Coast Guard team are also assisting the operation.

Irish police said they did not expect to find more survivors from Friday’s explosion in Creeslough, County Donegal. Eight people are in hospitals after a blast tore through the Applegreen service station in the community of about 400 people.

Emergency responders from Ireland and neighboring Northern Ireland are involved in what police said was now a “search and recovery” operation. Sniffer dogs combed the debris, and a mechanical digger lifted piles of rubble from the site.

The explosion leveled the gas station building, which holds the main shop and post office for the village, and damaged an adjacent residential building.

“People are shocked and numbed,” he told Irish broadcaster RTE. “People have been rallying together and everyone’s concern is with the families of those who have lost their loved ones and how they can support them in the days ahead.”