BLOODY HORROR OF HOSPITAL STRETCHED TO LIMITS
Bloody horror of hospital stretched to furthest limits
The scene at the Tyrone County hospital was one of almost unrelieved tension and despair. Martin Anderson witnessed a harrowing, heart-rending evening.
BLOOD-SOAKED floors and confusion greeted a constant stream of distraught relatives who arrived at Tyrone County Hospital on Saturday evening.
Ambulance men grabbed a few minutes rest with their heads held in their hands as they tried to come to terms with the carnage they had witnessed on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Omagh.
A hushed silence hung over the accident and emergency department as relatives lining the corridors watched patients with shrapnel injuries being wheeled to the wards.
The injured stared up from their hospital trolleys with confused and harrowing looks on their faces as they searched for some meaning in what was happening.
As night fell, grandparents, parents, and children wandered around the hospital grounds in a daze trying desperately to find information about missing loved ones.
The hospital authorities set up an information centre in their Post-Graduate centre where relatives were directed on arrival at the main reception.
A middle-aged couple waited an agonising five hours for news about their teenage daughter who, at the time of the explosion, had been in Omagh town centre to catch a bus to Portrush.
At 9pm news started to filter through that she had caught the bus and had safely arrived at the seaside resort.
The couple embraced in a combination of joy and relief. Hospital staff helping them search smiled for one of the few times that evening.
But the couple's joy was mixed with grief at the others who had not been so lucky. The teenager's father said: "Thank God she is safe but God help the rest. We are just going to go home now to be together."
The confusion was compounded by a breakdown in phone lines caused by the massive surge in calls in the area and the number of seriously injured patients being transferred to other hospitals across Northern Ireland for specialist treatment.
Clergy also arrived at the hospital to try and do what they could to comfort relatives.
Bishop Francis Lagan, auxiliary Bishop of Derry, said there were few words to comfort the inconsolable.
"It has been a scene of horror here. It's Indescribable what has been done on innocent people.
"It beggars belief tat anyone could be so evil as to kill and maim so many innocent people.
"I have spoken with relatives of those killed and injured with the other clergy but there are no words that can console the inconsolable. All we can do is be with them."
Hardened journalists and politicians who have seen their fair share of death and destruction even found it hard to control their emotions.
The local MP, Willie Thompson, was close to tears as he spoke about friends he knew who had been injured in the explosion.
The scene at the Tyrone County hospital was one of almost unrelieved tension and despair. Martin Anderson witnessed a harrowing, heart-rending evening.
BLOOD-SOAKED floors and confusion greeted a constant stream of distraught relatives who arrived at Tyrone County Hospital on Saturday evening.
Ambulance men grabbed a few minutes rest with their heads held in their hands as they tried to come to terms with the carnage they had witnessed on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Omagh.
A hushed silence hung over the accident and emergency department as relatives lining the corridors watched patients with shrapnel injuries being wheeled to the wards.
The injured stared up from their hospital trolleys with confused and harrowing looks on their faces as they searched for some meaning in what was happening.
As night fell, grandparents, parents, and children wandered around the hospital grounds in a daze trying desperately to find information about missing loved ones.
The hospital authorities set up an information centre in their Post-Graduate centre where relatives were directed on arrival at the main reception.
A middle-aged couple waited an agonising five hours for news about their teenage daughter who, at the time of the explosion, had been in Omagh town centre to catch a bus to Portrush.
At 9pm news started to filter through that she had caught the bus and had safely arrived at the seaside resort.
The couple embraced in a combination of joy and relief. Hospital staff helping them search smiled for one of the few times that evening.
But the couple's joy was mixed with grief at the others who had not been so lucky. The teenager's father said: "Thank God she is safe but God help the rest. We are just going to go home now to be together."
The confusion was compounded by a breakdown in phone lines caused by the massive surge in calls in the area and the number of seriously injured patients being transferred to other hospitals across Northern Ireland for specialist treatment.
Clergy also arrived at the hospital to try and do what they could to comfort relatives.
Bishop Francis Lagan, auxiliary Bishop of Derry, said there were few words to comfort the inconsolable.
"It has been a scene of horror here. It's Indescribable what has been done on innocent people.
"It beggars belief tat anyone could be so evil as to kill and maim so many innocent people.
"I have spoken with relatives of those killed and injured with the other clergy but there are no words that can console the inconsolable. All we can do is be with them."
Hardened journalists and politicians who have seen their fair share of death and destruction even found it hard to control their emotions.
The local MP, Willie Thompson, was close to tears as he spoke about friends he knew who had been injured in the explosion.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0038
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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