BALLYSHANNON DISTRESS AT OMAGH ATTACK
Ballyshannon distress at Omagh attack
The reports of the heart-rending tragedies that have come out of the slaughter of the innocents that was Omagh on Saturday have been the centre of everyone's thoughts and prayers, but behind the distressing stories of the carnage are those also of providential - almost miraculous escapes from death or serious injury.
One such story was that of the granddaughter of Mr Cecil A. King, Donegal Road, Ballyshannon, eighteen year old student. Aisling Jennings, who lives in Omagh, and was doing holiday work in Hyper Boutique when the bomb exploded just a few yards from the premises. The owners of the boutique. Jackie and Yvonne Elliott, had been on holidays leaving Aisling in charge. They arrived home shortly after the explosion to find their business in ruins.
Aisling, who was born when her family were living in Buncrana, graphically described her experience.
BUSY
"It was a fairly busy afternoon in the shop when we were warned that there was a bomb at the Courthouse at the top of the High Street," she said.. "Everybody was being directed down High Street and Market Street to what was thought was safety. There were crowds of people on the street outside the shop and some of them were joking that it was another false alarm. There had been many false alarms in Omagh over recent years and people had become used to them."
"In the shop a customer was trying on a new dress and was examining herself in front of the mirror," continued Aisling. "Another customer was just emerging from the fitting room. Suddenly, there was a tremendous bang. Everything went grey and dusty shaking and shimmering. Everything was falling down around me. Beside me, the lady in front of the mirror was blown off her feet and the mirror shattered. A sliver of the glass went into her foot. The lady emerging from the fitting room was blown back through the curtains. For a second or two after the blast there was an eerie silence and then the screaming started. I shouted to the others in the shop to get out the back door. As I was leaving I said to the other assistant that we should take the money out to safety but then we realised that the cash register could not be opened because there was no electrical power. We all got out safely and just as we got out my father arrived at the rear car park and was able to take four of us to the hospital." Her father, Vincent, before going as Manager to Dungannon Bank of Ireland, served in Ballyshannon and Buncrana.
MIRACULOUS
That no one in the shop was seriously injured or killed was positively miraculous considering that the 5001b bomb went off just a few yards away in the crowded street and in the shop next door four people were killed and others seriously injured.. Aisling sustained only minor cuts to her arm but suffered severely from shock.
There were numerous other stories of narrow escapes. What happened to friends of Aisling were examples. One lady, Kathleen Winters, had been at the courthouse and was directed by the police down the. High Street, but for some reason she could not explain felt compelled to go down Bridge Street, in the opposite direction and across the bridge at the bottom of the street to head towards the Dublin Road., a roundabout route. Otherwise she would have been, at the scene of the explosion when the bomb went off. Another lady, Marie Bradley, had been shopping in Market Street just twenty minutes before the explosion and the site where she parked her car must have been only yards from the bomb car.
AGONY
Aisling's case also illustrated the agony suffered by the parents and friends of those who were known to be in the vicinity of the explosion at the time the bomb went off. Her mother, Mrs Eleanor Jennings was visiting her father in Ballyshannon when she heard the news flash that a massive bomb had gone off at the junction of Market Street and the Dublin Road in Omagh, with ten believed killed and many injured. Knowing that the explosion was just yards away from where Aisling was working and unable to get through to Omagh because the telephone system was knocked out, she naturally became desperately anxious as it seemed inconceivable that Aisling could have escaped. Frantic with worry and too distressed to drive herself, she was driven to Omagh by a family friend, Maura Hickey, daughter of Patsy and Maureen McCormack, who was in her parents' native Ballyshannon on holidays from Co. Meath, and Aisling's grand uncle, Gervase King, Ballyshannon.
It was a fraught-filled, stressful journey as news flashes on the radio told of increasing numbers of dead and many others suffering horrific injuries. On arrival in Omagh, however, after a frantic search she received the good news that Aisling was at the Tyrone and Fermanagh County Hospital and was safe with only minor injuries.
There was a joyful reunion of mother and daughter at the hospital, one of the few such incidents in the midst of heartrending scenes of grief and distress.
The reports of the heart-rending tragedies that have come out of the slaughter of the innocents that was Omagh on Saturday have been the centre of everyone's thoughts and prayers, but behind the distressing stories of the carnage are those also of providential - almost miraculous escapes from death or serious injury.
One such story was that of the granddaughter of Mr Cecil A. King, Donegal Road, Ballyshannon, eighteen year old student. Aisling Jennings, who lives in Omagh, and was doing holiday work in Hyper Boutique when the bomb exploded just a few yards from the premises. The owners of the boutique. Jackie and Yvonne Elliott, had been on holidays leaving Aisling in charge. They arrived home shortly after the explosion to find their business in ruins.
Aisling, who was born when her family were living in Buncrana, graphically described her experience.
BUSY
"It was a fairly busy afternoon in the shop when we were warned that there was a bomb at the Courthouse at the top of the High Street," she said.. "Everybody was being directed down High Street and Market Street to what was thought was safety. There were crowds of people on the street outside the shop and some of them were joking that it was another false alarm. There had been many false alarms in Omagh over recent years and people had become used to them."
"In the shop a customer was trying on a new dress and was examining herself in front of the mirror," continued Aisling. "Another customer was just emerging from the fitting room. Suddenly, there was a tremendous bang. Everything went grey and dusty shaking and shimmering. Everything was falling down around me. Beside me, the lady in front of the mirror was blown off her feet and the mirror shattered. A sliver of the glass went into her foot. The lady emerging from the fitting room was blown back through the curtains. For a second or two after the blast there was an eerie silence and then the screaming started. I shouted to the others in the shop to get out the back door. As I was leaving I said to the other assistant that we should take the money out to safety but then we realised that the cash register could not be opened because there was no electrical power. We all got out safely and just as we got out my father arrived at the rear car park and was able to take four of us to the hospital." Her father, Vincent, before going as Manager to Dungannon Bank of Ireland, served in Ballyshannon and Buncrana.
MIRACULOUS
That no one in the shop was seriously injured or killed was positively miraculous considering that the 5001b bomb went off just a few yards away in the crowded street and in the shop next door four people were killed and others seriously injured.. Aisling sustained only minor cuts to her arm but suffered severely from shock.
There were numerous other stories of narrow escapes. What happened to friends of Aisling were examples. One lady, Kathleen Winters, had been at the courthouse and was directed by the police down the. High Street, but for some reason she could not explain felt compelled to go down Bridge Street, in the opposite direction and across the bridge at the bottom of the street to head towards the Dublin Road., a roundabout route. Otherwise she would have been, at the scene of the explosion when the bomb went off. Another lady, Marie Bradley, had been shopping in Market Street just twenty minutes before the explosion and the site where she parked her car must have been only yards from the bomb car.
AGONY
Aisling's case also illustrated the agony suffered by the parents and friends of those who were known to be in the vicinity of the explosion at the time the bomb went off. Her mother, Mrs Eleanor Jennings was visiting her father in Ballyshannon when she heard the news flash that a massive bomb had gone off at the junction of Market Street and the Dublin Road in Omagh, with ten believed killed and many injured. Knowing that the explosion was just yards away from where Aisling was working and unable to get through to Omagh because the telephone system was knocked out, she naturally became desperately anxious as it seemed inconceivable that Aisling could have escaped. Frantic with worry and too distressed to drive herself, she was driven to Omagh by a family friend, Maura Hickey, daughter of Patsy and Maureen McCormack, who was in her parents' native Ballyshannon on holidays from Co. Meath, and Aisling's grand uncle, Gervase King, Ballyshannon.
It was a fraught-filled, stressful journey as news flashes on the radio told of increasing numbers of dead and many others suffering horrific injuries. On arrival in Omagh, however, after a frantic search she received the good news that Aisling was at the Tyrone and Fermanagh County Hospital and was safe with only minor injuries.
There was a joyful reunion of mother and daughter at the hospital, one of the few such incidents in the midst of heartrending scenes of grief and distress.
Further Information
Publisher: DONEGAL DEMOCRAT
Ref: DOD/017
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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