TOWN FULL OF ANGUISH FOR SLAUGHTERED YOUTHS
Town full of anguish for slaughtered youths
By ANITA GUIDERA
THREE schoolboys from Buncrana went on a day trip to Omagh last Saturday and returned home two nights later in coffins.
There were scenes of anguish among the hundreds of mourners who lined the town's Main Street for hours before the sorrowful cortege finally reached Buncrana shortly before 12.30am today. Men, women and children: held candles and wept openly as two of the three.. coffins were driven down the Main Street.
In the mourning cars the parents and families of neighbours Oran Doherty (8)and Shaun McLaughlin (12) writhed in anguish as they clung to each other, for support.
People held each other and wept as the coffins were driven past before forking left for the final uphill journey to Knockalla Drive where the boys lived.
Hundreds trailed up the hill after the last car had past, crossing the green where the boys had played football with their pals. Upwards of a thousand people gathered in silence outside the two homes, holding candles, sobbing uncontrollably and shaking their heads in disbelief as the coffins were carried inside.
An entire community stood numb with pain on a night, the awfulness of which would be forged forever on their minds.
There were no words left to be said. A local woman began a decade of the Rosary and everyone joined in, the prayerful sound filling the chill night air.
One voice, one grief, one tiny community stricken in pain.
Out in Porthaw, the Barker family brought the body of their 12-year-old son James home too where he, like the other boys, will remain until burial on Wednesday.
Books of condolences will be opened later today Scoil Iosagain, Buncrana, and at the Civic Offices in Letterkenny.
President Mary McAleese is expected in the grief-stricken town tomorrow morning when the three schoolboys will be laid to rest.
Earlier yesterday the parish priest of Buncrana spoke of his horror at having to identify the bodies of the three young boys.
"It was one of the most horrifying ordeals of my life es a priest," said Fr Joseph Carolan.
"I'll never forget it and I never want to go through it again," he said.
Together with Buncrana curate Fr Shane Bradley, a native of Omagh, Fr Carolan, helped to identify the remains of James Barker, (12), Sean McLaughlin, (11) and Oran Doherty, (8), all from Buncrana.
The three friends had accompanied a group of Spanish exchange students to the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh last Saturday. Thirty-three Spanish students and eleven local children went on the day trip.
By ANITA GUIDERA
THREE schoolboys from Buncrana went on a day trip to Omagh last Saturday and returned home two nights later in coffins.
There were scenes of anguish among the hundreds of mourners who lined the town's Main Street for hours before the sorrowful cortege finally reached Buncrana shortly before 12.30am today. Men, women and children: held candles and wept openly as two of the three.. coffins were driven down the Main Street.
In the mourning cars the parents and families of neighbours Oran Doherty (8)and Shaun McLaughlin (12) writhed in anguish as they clung to each other, for support.
People held each other and wept as the coffins were driven past before forking left for the final uphill journey to Knockalla Drive where the boys lived.
Hundreds trailed up the hill after the last car had past, crossing the green where the boys had played football with their pals. Upwards of a thousand people gathered in silence outside the two homes, holding candles, sobbing uncontrollably and shaking their heads in disbelief as the coffins were carried inside.
An entire community stood numb with pain on a night, the awfulness of which would be forged forever on their minds.
There were no words left to be said. A local woman began a decade of the Rosary and everyone joined in, the prayerful sound filling the chill night air.
One voice, one grief, one tiny community stricken in pain.
Out in Porthaw, the Barker family brought the body of their 12-year-old son James home too where he, like the other boys, will remain until burial on Wednesday.
Books of condolences will be opened later today Scoil Iosagain, Buncrana, and at the Civic Offices in Letterkenny.
President Mary McAleese is expected in the grief-stricken town tomorrow morning when the three schoolboys will be laid to rest.
Earlier yesterday the parish priest of Buncrana spoke of his horror at having to identify the bodies of the three young boys.
"It was one of the most horrifying ordeals of my life es a priest," said Fr Joseph Carolan.
"I'll never forget it and I never want to go through it again," he said.
Together with Buncrana curate Fr Shane Bradley, a native of Omagh, Fr Carolan, helped to identify the remains of James Barker, (12), Sean McLaughlin, (11) and Oran Doherty, (8), all from Buncrana.
The three friends had accompanied a group of Spanish exchange students to the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh last Saturday. Thirty-three Spanish students and eleven local children went on the day trip.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/054
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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