EYEWITNESS REMEMBERS SLAUGHTER
Eyewitness remembers slaughter
By Steven McCaffrey
WHEN he woke the morning after the Omagh bombing Paul Garrity hoped he was remembering a nightmare.
The 38-year-old accountant was at the scene of Saturday's bomb blast within minutes of the explosion and was among those ordinary people who battled to help the injured.
Yesterday he remembered the horrific sights he was faced with bodies strewn across the street, dazed victims with their faces black from the blast, the body of a small child blown into a shop window, wounded and frightened shoppers crying for loved ones.
The father of two, like many in Omagh yesterday, recalled how his own family could have easily figured in the death toll. In the end normal Saturday shopping plans were shelved because his two young daughters went to a birthday party instead.
Mr Garrity heard the blast from his Dublin Road home and quickly cycled into the town centre. He was not prepared for what he saw.
"I think when I did arrive I was in a state of shock myself. First I noticed at least three people lying dead at Nicholls & Shields on the corner. There were two other bodies lying further up the street.
"A lot of the policemen - some of them were literally splattered from head to toe in blood - and I really mean that. They were putting people who were either dead, badly maimed or injured into sheets or anything they could find and just sort of dragging them down to the bottom end of the town to that junction at the traffic lights.
"They were waiting for any available ambulance or car to put the people into.
"There was a lot of women and children at that corner by Nicholls & Shields. One woman put into a car was actually partially naked because most of her clothes must have been blown off by the force of the bomb.
"There was an awful lot of water because there was a burst main. There were people lying dead and the water was just gushing over the top of them. The other striking thing was there was so much blood.
"There was blood literally everywhere... An awful lot of blood on the footpath and on the road. There were an awful lot of people covered with debris. You would nearly imagine they had come out of a coalpit - they were just black from the explosion itself. It was horrendous."
Mr Garrity saw people he recognised as local shop assistants wandering the street dazed, covered in blood. Cars were commandeered for use as makeshift ambulances, bits of debris became stretchers, with sheets from the blown out shops used to cover those who had perished, or as hammocks to carry the injured away.
He praised the "sterling work " of the police and emergency services who he said battled brilliantly under the horrendous conditions.
"I was doing what I could to help people but I am not a paramedic, at times you felt a bit useless that you couldn't do more, all I could do was help out as best I could."
Since the blast he has had calls from relatives and friends across Ireland and from as far away as America. The callers were shocked by the scale of the atrocity in Omagh. Mr Garrity said he is struggling to accept it himself.
"To look up the street in your own town and see the whole place strewn with bodies. It's just so hard to take in."
By Steven McCaffrey
WHEN he woke the morning after the Omagh bombing Paul Garrity hoped he was remembering a nightmare.
The 38-year-old accountant was at the scene of Saturday's bomb blast within minutes of the explosion and was among those ordinary people who battled to help the injured.
Yesterday he remembered the horrific sights he was faced with bodies strewn across the street, dazed victims with their faces black from the blast, the body of a small child blown into a shop window, wounded and frightened shoppers crying for loved ones.
The father of two, like many in Omagh yesterday, recalled how his own family could have easily figured in the death toll. In the end normal Saturday shopping plans were shelved because his two young daughters went to a birthday party instead.
Mr Garrity heard the blast from his Dublin Road home and quickly cycled into the town centre. He was not prepared for what he saw.
"I think when I did arrive I was in a state of shock myself. First I noticed at least three people lying dead at Nicholls & Shields on the corner. There were two other bodies lying further up the street.
"A lot of the policemen - some of them were literally splattered from head to toe in blood - and I really mean that. They were putting people who were either dead, badly maimed or injured into sheets or anything they could find and just sort of dragging them down to the bottom end of the town to that junction at the traffic lights.
"They were waiting for any available ambulance or car to put the people into.
"There was a lot of women and children at that corner by Nicholls & Shields. One woman put into a car was actually partially naked because most of her clothes must have been blown off by the force of the bomb.
"There was an awful lot of water because there was a burst main. There were people lying dead and the water was just gushing over the top of them. The other striking thing was there was so much blood.
"There was blood literally everywhere... An awful lot of blood on the footpath and on the road. There were an awful lot of people covered with debris. You would nearly imagine they had come out of a coalpit - they were just black from the explosion itself. It was horrendous."
Mr Garrity saw people he recognised as local shop assistants wandering the street dazed, covered in blood. Cars were commandeered for use as makeshift ambulances, bits of debris became stretchers, with sheets from the blown out shops used to cover those who had perished, or as hammocks to carry the injured away.
He praised the "sterling work " of the police and emergency services who he said battled brilliantly under the horrendous conditions.
"I was doing what I could to help people but I am not a paramedic, at times you felt a bit useless that you couldn't do more, all I could do was help out as best I could."
Since the blast he has had calls from relatives and friends across Ireland and from as far away as America. The callers were shocked by the scale of the atrocity in Omagh. Mr Garrity said he is struggling to accept it himself.
"To look up the street in your own town and see the whole place strewn with bodies. It's just so hard to take in."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0003
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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