Hundreds of people gathered at a memorial service to remember those killed in a gas explosion at a Glasgow factory 10 years ago.
Nine people died in the blast at the city’s Stockline plastics factory in Maryhill and 33 others were seriously injured.
A build-up of leaking gas from corroded underground pipes was to blame for the disaster, which provoked a country-wide pipe replacement programme.
Victims’ families, community members, politicians including Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, and members of the emergency services attended yesterday’s service at Maryhill Community Central Halls, close to the former factory site.
A welcome address was given by Gary Gentles, the centre’s community development manager, followed by readings from Rev Paul McEwan, Brian Sweeney, former chief officer of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, Father Euan Marley and local MSP Patricia Ferguson.
Mr Sweeney paid tribute to the community spirit shown by Maryhill at the time of the incident and in the years that followed.
He said the fact that the community had been “willing to do everything and anything that it could was a source of great inspiration”.
He said one colleague had told him that “Maryhill, in a smaller way, was Glasgow’s 9/11”.
“May 11 2004 brought such terrible tragedy to our community,” he said.
“Four days of grief, shock, effort, pain, pride and humanity. A city coming together. Now, as we did then, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the city.”
Rev McEwan, who served in Maryhill at the time of the tragedy, said: “Our scars are an important part of who we are and they remind us of what we have gone through and survived.
“Our scars will always be with us but they don’t define us. We never forget but we can move on.”
His words were followed by a recital of the Seamus Heaney poem Funeral Rites by Father Marley, and Ms Ferguson’s reading of The Glory Of Life Is Love.
Singer Cathy Peattie led a rendition of the Beatles song Let It Be, before family members were invited forward to light a candle for each person who died.
The names of those killed were Margaret Brownlie, Annette Doyle, Peter Ferguson, Thomas McAulay, Stewart McColl, Tracey McErlane, Kenneth Murray, Tim Smith and Ann Trench.
A public inquiry into the blast found ICL Plastics Ltd and subsidiary ICL Tech Ltd had not identified or understood the risks associated with the gas piping and that the disaster could have been avoided.
The companies were each fined £200,000.
A spokeswoman for ICL Plastics Ltd said: “The 10 years that have passed have not diminished the sadness we feel in remembering our friends and colleagues who lost their lives. Our thoughts continue to be with their families and friends and with those who survived.”
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