BOMBS BRING BACK OMAGH HELL TO TEACHER
Bombs bring back Omagh hell to teacher
By Brendan McDaid and Larry Deeney
A MADRID teacher who lost her assistant and pupil in the Omagh bombing today described her horror at being faced with a second terrorist attack.
Paola Mahon, who had helped organise the trip to Omagh back in 1998, described being struck by a horrific sense of deja vu as the carnage unfolded in her native city.
Speaking to the Telegraph this morning from her home less than a mile from the site of one of the blasts, Mrs Mahon said: "Everybody is in a terrible state of shock at the moment.
"We are just sitting here around the television 24 hours waiting to hear the names. At the moment we do not know if we know anybody who has been killed."
The teacher, who recently settled in Madrid with her Roscommon husband Peter, added that Madrid had come to a complete standstill.
She described how thousands of distraught residents were walking between the Spanish capital's 16 hospitals and morgues in search of missing loved ones.
"So many tragic stories are coming through today. So far 150 have been identified, but there are still over 1,400 injured and 50 dead whose bodies were blown apart and whose identity is still unknown."
Mrs Mahon, who still leads hundreds of students back to the Donegal town of Buncrana every year from Madrid, said the incident had brought back the full horror of the Omagh bombing.
Mrs Mahon arrived on the scene in Omagh shortly after the blast.
She was also called upon to identify the bodies of her student Fernando Blasis Baselga (12) and assistant Rocia Abad Ramos (23).
Mrs Mahon's own niece was also badly injured in the Omagh bombing.
Beatriz Beuch (17), who was in a coma in Belfast's Royal for a month after the bombing, made a full recovery and is now back living in Madrid.
"My sister has been phoning me today and she and Beatriz are just crying. This is bringing back all the memories of what happened to her."
Mrs Mahon said she too had been left very shaken by yesterday's bombing.
"This is really flashing back to Omagh.
"I brought those students to Ireland and it was very very hard to deal with what happened to them."
Mrs Mahon said the sense of solidarity being expressed among Spanish people reminded her of how nationalists and unionists had united in the wake of the Omagh bombing.
By Brendan McDaid and Larry Deeney
A MADRID teacher who lost her assistant and pupil in the Omagh bombing today described her horror at being faced with a second terrorist attack.
Paola Mahon, who had helped organise the trip to Omagh back in 1998, described being struck by a horrific sense of deja vu as the carnage unfolded in her native city.
Speaking to the Telegraph this morning from her home less than a mile from the site of one of the blasts, Mrs Mahon said: "Everybody is in a terrible state of shock at the moment.
"We are just sitting here around the television 24 hours waiting to hear the names. At the moment we do not know if we know anybody who has been killed."
The teacher, who recently settled in Madrid with her Roscommon husband Peter, added that Madrid had come to a complete standstill.
She described how thousands of distraught residents were walking between the Spanish capital's 16 hospitals and morgues in search of missing loved ones.
"So many tragic stories are coming through today. So far 150 have been identified, but there are still over 1,400 injured and 50 dead whose bodies were blown apart and whose identity is still unknown."
Mrs Mahon, who still leads hundreds of students back to the Donegal town of Buncrana every year from Madrid, said the incident had brought back the full horror of the Omagh bombing.
Mrs Mahon arrived on the scene in Omagh shortly after the blast.
She was also called upon to identify the bodies of her student Fernando Blasis Baselga (12) and assistant Rocia Abad Ramos (23).
Mrs Mahon's own niece was also badly injured in the Omagh bombing.
Beatriz Beuch (17), who was in a coma in Belfast's Royal for a month after the bombing, made a full recovery and is now back living in Madrid.
"My sister has been phoning me today and she and Beatriz are just crying. This is bringing back all the memories of what happened to her."
Mrs Mahon said she too had been left very shaken by yesterday's bombing.
"This is really flashing back to Omagh.
"I brought those students to Ireland and it was very very hard to deal with what happened to them."
Mrs Mahon said the sense of solidarity being expressed among Spanish people reminded her of how nationalists and unionists had united in the wake of the Omagh bombing.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0920
Published Date: 12-Mar-04
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