RUC OFFICERS DESCRIBE CARNAGE AFTER BLAST
RUC officers describe carnage after blast
By EUGENE MOLONEY in Omagh
POLICEMEN who helped tend the dying and injured in Saturday's bombing spoke for the first time yesterday about the horrors they felt would live with them for the rest of their lives. One young policewoman Lynn Cordner told how her most vivid and shocking memory had been unzipping a body bag to discover a dead baby girl inside.
Another policeman told how he had been working in the temporary morgue set up in the army base and had seen all the bodies brought in.
The 24-year-old, who was only six months out of training, said: "I'd heard bombs before but I'd never seen the destruction or sheer carnage that happened on Saturday and I never want to see it again. It just breaks your heart."
He said when the two babies, 18-months-old Maura Monaghan and 21-months-old Breda Devine, were brought in, they both looked "so peaceful".
He added: "Their eyes were closed you would have sworn you were looking at two youngsters still sleeping, just dreaming. They almost looked content. It was hard to realise their lives had been taken away."
He told how he had remained at the scene or in the morgue until early morning.
He told too how when they had got the call to go to Omagh over his headset he could hear the crying and screaming of victims.
"Nothing could prepare you for what I did see. Some people were just beyond recognition you would not even know what sex they were, and most were beyond any form of first aid," he said.
The young policeman went to one woman and realising that she was dying took off his hat and put it under her head.
By EUGENE MOLONEY in Omagh
POLICEMEN who helped tend the dying and injured in Saturday's bombing spoke for the first time yesterday about the horrors they felt would live with them for the rest of their lives. One young policewoman Lynn Cordner told how her most vivid and shocking memory had been unzipping a body bag to discover a dead baby girl inside.
Another policeman told how he had been working in the temporary morgue set up in the army base and had seen all the bodies brought in.
The 24-year-old, who was only six months out of training, said: "I'd heard bombs before but I'd never seen the destruction or sheer carnage that happened on Saturday and I never want to see it again. It just breaks your heart."
He said when the two babies, 18-months-old Maura Monaghan and 21-months-old Breda Devine, were brought in, they both looked "so peaceful".
He added: "Their eyes were closed you would have sworn you were looking at two youngsters still sleeping, just dreaming. They almost looked content. It was hard to realise their lives had been taken away."
He told how he had remained at the scene or in the morgue until early morning.
He told too how when they had got the call to go to Omagh over his headset he could hear the crying and screaming of victims.
"Nothing could prepare you for what I did see. Some people were just beyond recognition you would not even know what sex they were, and most were beyond any form of first aid," he said.
The young policeman went to one woman and realising that she was dying took off his hat and put it under her head.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/084
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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