SOLEMN SERVICE
Solemn service as stunned worshippers recall horror
IT was an austere service at Omagh Presbyterian Church yesterday morning.
Those gathered had their own horror stories.
Of the 300 people in their Sunday best at a church which is inside the security cordon most had spent the previous 24 hours in fear for loved ones and many had experienced the direct terror of the bomb itself.
Darryl Simpson was separated from members of his family in the aftermath of the blast.
"I ended up checking bodies trying to see if they were my ones," he recalled.
"It seems selfish talking about it now but it was all I could think about at the time.
"It was an anxious two hour wait before we could establish where they were.
"All of our family all nine of us stayed together in the one bedroom last night."
To their knowledge, the congregation at Omagh Presbyterian Church lost no one in the massacre and the full scale of physical injuries had not been established.
But worshippers leaving the church said the damage inflicted by the bomb would scar them for life.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life. Only on TV, in Bosnia or something, never in Omagh," said 36-year-old John King, who was 100 yards away from the explosion.
"I had an aunt injured and I didn't even recognise her."
Mr King explained he attended church because he was at a loss over what to do.
"I had to go somewhere, do something. I just couldn't sit at home and watch the news anymore," he said.
Earlier worshippers sang 'Be Still My Soul' as clergymen compared the suffering of Omagh to the pain inflicted on Jesus by evil men.
A hushed church heard the Moderator of the Presbyterian church in Ireland, the Rt Rev John Dixon, speak of the "frustration, anger, upset and stunned disbelief being experienced by people.
And he led them in prayer that the Government may "truly be a terror to those who plan evil and the comfort to those who keep to the law".
IT was an austere service at Omagh Presbyterian Church yesterday morning.
Those gathered had their own horror stories.
Of the 300 people in their Sunday best at a church which is inside the security cordon most had spent the previous 24 hours in fear for loved ones and many had experienced the direct terror of the bomb itself.
Darryl Simpson was separated from members of his family in the aftermath of the blast.
"I ended up checking bodies trying to see if they were my ones," he recalled.
"It seems selfish talking about it now but it was all I could think about at the time.
"It was an anxious two hour wait before we could establish where they were.
"All of our family all nine of us stayed together in the one bedroom last night."
To their knowledge, the congregation at Omagh Presbyterian Church lost no one in the massacre and the full scale of physical injuries had not been established.
But worshippers leaving the church said the damage inflicted by the bomb would scar them for life.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life. Only on TV, in Bosnia or something, never in Omagh," said 36-year-old John King, who was 100 yards away from the explosion.
"I had an aunt injured and I didn't even recognise her."
Mr King explained he attended church because he was at a loss over what to do.
"I had to go somewhere, do something. I just couldn't sit at home and watch the news anymore," he said.
Earlier worshippers sang 'Be Still My Soul' as clergymen compared the suffering of Omagh to the pain inflicted on Jesus by evil men.
A hushed church heard the Moderator of the Presbyterian church in Ireland, the Rt Rev John Dixon, speak of the "frustration, anger, upset and stunned disbelief being experienced by people.
And he led them in prayer that the Government may "truly be a terror to those who plan evil and the comfort to those who keep to the law".
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0035
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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