LIKE A SCENE FROM A TERRIBLE FILM
Like a scene from a terrible film'
Omagh man Martin Quinn (34), a driver from the Birchwood area of the town, and a former goalkeeper with Omagh Town Football Club, was in the centre on Saturday when the bomb went off. He was uninjured but his harrowing story - told to Nevin Farrell - shows the personal impact of the tragedy.
"I was due to play football on Saturday with my soccer team, Kelvin United, but the match was cancelled because of the wet weather all week. We were sitting in McElroy's pub when the bomb went off. To be honest, although we were only about 600 yards from the bomb we didn't hear it but then the phone rang and it was my wife Jackie who said that the house had shook.
"I went home to make sure everything was alright and the others went round the town to check on relatives. One of our players had went down the town for a walk about 10 minutes before the bomb went off.
"He was chatting to two or three people and was caught up in the explosion and taken to hospital in Enniskillen with shrapnel wounds in his thigh and knees.
"All sorts of people rallied round when the bomb went off. Taxi drivers helped take people to hospital. I was told one woman was sitting with a child in her arms in a state of hysterics.
"The back seats of every taxi in Omagh was covered in blood. Car owners and vans belonging to businesses also helped ferry people to hospital. There was one report of a van going to hospital in Enniskillen with a policeman hanging out the door holding a flashing light.
"The whole thing is beyond comprehension. What do you say? I don't know how the man who done this can sit at home.
"I heard another story of how a man tried to help one of the injured but the top half of the body just came away from the legs which stayed where they were.
"We were told this morning that a young girl who used to babysit for us has died while another young couple who live near us and who were due to get married next Saturday were badly injured. He is very badly burnt and she wasn't expected to live. Their flower-girl died. The whole thing is hard to take in and my wife has been crying since the bomb. She can't get over it.
"It's like a scene out of a very bad film. We had been watching events in Banbridge a few weeks ago but when it comes to your own town it's very strange.
"No one has been talking of anything else. In the pub today everyone was glued to Sky News and they are looking at images of places were you go everyday.
"The news hasn't been off and then you see pictures of people you know and it's hard to believe that it is Omagh they are talking about. People have been talking about nothing else. Then you hear that such and such is dead and you can Just see people's faces drop.
"Everybody is stunned and it will be very hard for the town to recover from. this.
"The main disco in Omagh was cancelled last night and there was no entertainment in any of the pubs. It was the quietest ever Saturday night in Omagh."
Omagh man Martin Quinn (34), a driver from the Birchwood area of the town, and a former goalkeeper with Omagh Town Football Club, was in the centre on Saturday when the bomb went off. He was uninjured but his harrowing story - told to Nevin Farrell - shows the personal impact of the tragedy.
"I was due to play football on Saturday with my soccer team, Kelvin United, but the match was cancelled because of the wet weather all week. We were sitting in McElroy's pub when the bomb went off. To be honest, although we were only about 600 yards from the bomb we didn't hear it but then the phone rang and it was my wife Jackie who said that the house had shook.
"I went home to make sure everything was alright and the others went round the town to check on relatives. One of our players had went down the town for a walk about 10 minutes before the bomb went off.
"He was chatting to two or three people and was caught up in the explosion and taken to hospital in Enniskillen with shrapnel wounds in his thigh and knees.
"All sorts of people rallied round when the bomb went off. Taxi drivers helped take people to hospital. I was told one woman was sitting with a child in her arms in a state of hysterics.
"The back seats of every taxi in Omagh was covered in blood. Car owners and vans belonging to businesses also helped ferry people to hospital. There was one report of a van going to hospital in Enniskillen with a policeman hanging out the door holding a flashing light.
"The whole thing is beyond comprehension. What do you say? I don't know how the man who done this can sit at home.
"I heard another story of how a man tried to help one of the injured but the top half of the body just came away from the legs which stayed where they were.
"We were told this morning that a young girl who used to babysit for us has died while another young couple who live near us and who were due to get married next Saturday were badly injured. He is very badly burnt and she wasn't expected to live. Their flower-girl died. The whole thing is hard to take in and my wife has been crying since the bomb. She can't get over it.
"It's like a scene out of a very bad film. We had been watching events in Banbridge a few weeks ago but when it comes to your own town it's very strange.
"No one has been talking of anything else. In the pub today everyone was glued to Sky News and they are looking at images of places were you go everyday.
"The news hasn't been off and then you see pictures of people you know and it's hard to believe that it is Omagh they are talking about. People have been talking about nothing else. Then you hear that such and such is dead and you can Just see people's faces drop.
"Everybody is stunned and it will be very hard for the town to recover from. this.
"The main disco in Omagh was cancelled last night and there was no entertainment in any of the pubs. It was the quietest ever Saturday night in Omagh."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0007
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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