GRIEF ANGER AND PAIN ON A LONG NIGHT
Grief, anger and pain on a long night
By Seamus McKinney
GRIEF, anger and the most God-awful pain imaginable provided the mixture of emotions at the Tyrone and County hospital on Saturday night.
On the road into Omagh, ambulance after ambulance with police outriders on motorbikes raced at break neck speed, carrying the wounded - maybe even the dead at that stage - to Derry's Altnagelvin hospital.
At the main Omagh hospital, the Tyrone and County, the scene outside was straight out of a war film.
Ambulances roared in and out, paramedics, doctors, nurses and clergymen looked dazed at the enormity of the Omagh bombing.
And overhead there was the constant drone of helicopters, ferrying in the injured and taking the critical to Dungannon, Enniskillen, Derry and Belfast.
The scenes inside the hospital were difficult to describe. Hospital staff efficiently worked while relatives sat numbed awaiting news of their loved ones.
At the nearby postgraduate centre, a team of officials were compiling lists of the injured.
As phones rang, a name would be called out and and official would respond.
Either with confirmation of which hospital the wounded was in or a chilling shake of the head.
Hospital staff gave regular updates. By 8pm, there were 21 dead and more than 100 injured.
By 10.30pm, that had risen to 26 dead and more than 200 injured. The scene in the postgraduate board room was like nothing any journalist present had experienced before.
It was difficult to think of questions in face of the most heart breaking news which was being professionally given.
As midnight approached back at the hospital, emotions started to change.
Relatives unable to cope with what they were feeling were angry and there was no-one to direct that anger at but the journalists.
"I suppose you're enjoying this," one distraught woman said on hearing a journalist report the latest figures into a mobile phone.
Other relatives were frantic for information. There was a queue for the one public phone so reporters obliged handing out their mobiles.
The faces of families in turmoil was the stuff of nightmares. They sat with their heads in their hands. When they looked up, eyes were red against faces deathly pale with a pain that only they could appreciate.
Walking back through the hospital, an overheard conversation between two nurses froze the journalistic professionalism into reality.
"There's more dead. That wee boy upstairs has died."
A short statement of fact which drove home the fact that no journalist in Northern Ireland has ever covered anything so terrible.
Leaving the hospital after midnight, other families were walking away, exhausted but relieved. The father, mother, son, and daughter who was missing had turned up. They at least were alive.
Reader's comment line
The Irish News has set up a special telephone comment line for readers following the Omagh bombing. If you would like to make your views known please ring (012320 337471. Please keep your comments brief.
We will begin to publish those reactions in tomorrow's newspaper.
By Seamus McKinney
GRIEF, anger and the most God-awful pain imaginable provided the mixture of emotions at the Tyrone and County hospital on Saturday night.
On the road into Omagh, ambulance after ambulance with police outriders on motorbikes raced at break neck speed, carrying the wounded - maybe even the dead at that stage - to Derry's Altnagelvin hospital.
At the main Omagh hospital, the Tyrone and County, the scene outside was straight out of a war film.
Ambulances roared in and out, paramedics, doctors, nurses and clergymen looked dazed at the enormity of the Omagh bombing.
And overhead there was the constant drone of helicopters, ferrying in the injured and taking the critical to Dungannon, Enniskillen, Derry and Belfast.
The scenes inside the hospital were difficult to describe. Hospital staff efficiently worked while relatives sat numbed awaiting news of their loved ones.
At the nearby postgraduate centre, a team of officials were compiling lists of the injured.
As phones rang, a name would be called out and and official would respond.
Either with confirmation of which hospital the wounded was in or a chilling shake of the head.
Hospital staff gave regular updates. By 8pm, there were 21 dead and more than 100 injured.
By 10.30pm, that had risen to 26 dead and more than 200 injured. The scene in the postgraduate board room was like nothing any journalist present had experienced before.
It was difficult to think of questions in face of the most heart breaking news which was being professionally given.
As midnight approached back at the hospital, emotions started to change.
Relatives unable to cope with what they were feeling were angry and there was no-one to direct that anger at but the journalists.
"I suppose you're enjoying this," one distraught woman said on hearing a journalist report the latest figures into a mobile phone.
Other relatives were frantic for information. There was a queue for the one public phone so reporters obliged handing out their mobiles.
The faces of families in turmoil was the stuff of nightmares. They sat with their heads in their hands. When they looked up, eyes were red against faces deathly pale with a pain that only they could appreciate.
Walking back through the hospital, an overheard conversation between two nurses froze the journalistic professionalism into reality.
"There's more dead. That wee boy upstairs has died."
A short statement of fact which drove home the fact that no journalist in Northern Ireland has ever covered anything so terrible.
Leaving the hospital after midnight, other families were walking away, exhausted but relieved. The father, mother, son, and daughter who was missing had turned up. They at least were alive.
Reader's comment line
The Irish News has set up a special telephone comment line for readers following the Omagh bombing. If you would like to make your views known please ring (012320 337471. Please keep your comments brief.
We will begin to publish those reactions in tomorrow's newspaper.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0023
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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