FRANTIC SEARCH ENDS IN TEARFUL WAIT AT MORGUE
Frantic search ends in tearful wait at morgue
By MARTINA DEVLIN
LOCAL butcher, Paul Radford. alternated between pacing the floor and covering his face with his hands as he waited for the ordeal he was dreading - to identify the body of his teenage brother.
"I don't know what to do with myself," moaned the 29-year-old butcher as he queued to enter a makeshift morgue in the bomb devastated town of Omagh.
His brother Alan (17) lay inside the morgue while mother Marion, injured by shrapnel, sat at home waiting for the news Paul shuddered to tell her.
"I'm one 100pc sure its Alan inside there from the age, the description and the clothing," said Paul.
"I don't have any hope. "I spent all night searching for him. I haven't slept a wink. Now I'm just waiting to see him for myself.
"There are three families ahead of me who have to identify relatives first - this waiting is beyond bearing."
After the bomb Paul, from a family of seven, raced to Tyrone County Hospital to search for his mother and brother who were both reported missing. But he could find only his mum, screaming "Where's Alan?"
He then searched the hospital ward by ward.
"There was nowhere left to look so I started helping with the casualties at the hospital." he said. .
"I helped carry in bodies and I even carried in a leg off a bus - it had been blown off somebody. I didn't even know who it belonged to. Another fellow carried in an arm.
"There was nowhere to put all the people we were carrying, we just laid them on the floor anywhere we could find a space." The work was appalling, he admitted, but at least it kept him busy while he waited for news of his young brother.
"People covered in blood were being ferried out to the hospital in cars, buses and police cars and they were screaming for help." added Paul, from Castleview Park in the town.
There was still no word of his brother who was due to start training as a chef in September.
Tears flowed from Paul's eyes as he whispered: "Alan wasn't interested in politics, nothing like that. He was a quiet lad, he liked Celine Dion.
"And he was mad about sports gear. He was killed when he went to look at trainers in a sports shop. If he'd stayed with my mother he might, have been okay. They were having a snack in a coffee shop. He said be would be back in a few minutes. It was the last time she saw him."
By MARTINA DEVLIN
LOCAL butcher, Paul Radford. alternated between pacing the floor and covering his face with his hands as he waited for the ordeal he was dreading - to identify the body of his teenage brother.
"I don't know what to do with myself," moaned the 29-year-old butcher as he queued to enter a makeshift morgue in the bomb devastated town of Omagh.
His brother Alan (17) lay inside the morgue while mother Marion, injured by shrapnel, sat at home waiting for the news Paul shuddered to tell her.
"I'm one 100pc sure its Alan inside there from the age, the description and the clothing," said Paul.
"I don't have any hope. "I spent all night searching for him. I haven't slept a wink. Now I'm just waiting to see him for myself.
"There are three families ahead of me who have to identify relatives first - this waiting is beyond bearing."
After the bomb Paul, from a family of seven, raced to Tyrone County Hospital to search for his mother and brother who were both reported missing. But he could find only his mum, screaming "Where's Alan?"
He then searched the hospital ward by ward.
"There was nowhere left to look so I started helping with the casualties at the hospital." he said. .
"I helped carry in bodies and I even carried in a leg off a bus - it had been blown off somebody. I didn't even know who it belonged to. Another fellow carried in an arm.
"There was nowhere to put all the people we were carrying, we just laid them on the floor anywhere we could find a space." The work was appalling, he admitted, but at least it kept him busy while he waited for news of his young brother.
"People covered in blood were being ferried out to the hospital in cars, buses and police cars and they were screaming for help." added Paul, from Castleview Park in the town.
There was still no word of his brother who was due to start training as a chef in September.
Tears flowed from Paul's eyes as he whispered: "Alan wasn't interested in politics, nothing like that. He was a quiet lad, he liked Celine Dion.
"And he was mad about sports gear. He was killed when he went to look at trainers in a sports shop. If he'd stayed with my mother he might, have been okay. They were having a snack in a coffee shop. He said be would be back in a few minutes. It was the last time she saw him."
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/013
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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