RUC AT BOMB SCENE TELL OF HORRENDOUS CARNAGE
RUC at bomb scene tell of horrendous carnage
By Jonathan Turner and Nevin Farrell
POLICE officers caught up in the carnage of the Omagh bombing spoke for the first time yesterday about their memories of the atrocity.
They described the horrific scenes in the seconds after the blast, as they fought to help the hundreds of people injured.
One officer, who asked only to be known as Jeremy, described how he was on duty in Fintona when his unit received a radio transmission asking desperately for help.
"I couldn't really hear him over the radio," he said. "There was this awful piercing screaming and wailing in the background.
"He said, "this thing's exploded, there are casualties".
For some reason I can't get that transmission out of my head."
When Jeremy and other officers arrived minutes after the bomb had gone off, they found scenes of utter horror.
"As I was driving into Omagh, I could see two wee girls I knew. They were covered in blood.
"They were just holding onto each other, these two wee girls. One of them looked into the car with this complete look of hopelessness on her face and just shook her head.
"In Market Street there was just smoke and glass everywhere. Alarms were going off everywhere. The youngsters, some of them were screaming, and others were just sitting there.
"One young lad was sitting there quiet with the lower half of his leg hanging there. He wasn't even crying.
"He was just sitting there with this look on his face. There was someone working with him already so I went on."
The further down the street police got, the worse the scenes of destruction.
"I remember looking to my left and there was a woman who was just blown up, like she was inside out. I had a first aid kit with me, but a lot of these people were beyond first aid.
"I started trying to deal with the casualties. There were people with legs, limbs missing. The street was just littered with bodies.
"There were some young girls with one of the deceased, just stroking the body and rocking back and forward, wailing hysterically.
"It seemed like every place I turned or went, there were women and children.
"We tried to give first aid to people, but in many cases we were fighting a losing battle with them."
A local priest arrived on the scene and asked how he could help.
"I just said, father, just go to the people and comfort them as best you can. And he said, how can this have happened?"
After many of the casualties had been taken to hospital, the emergency services faced the grim task of searching the buildings and rubble for bodies.
"I found two ladies inside a shop, just sitting there. They couldn't speak or move, but by some sort of miracle they didn't have a scratch on them."
He added: "My colleagues and the ambulance service and fire service were unbelievable, as were the members of the public who helped us.
"But I just don't know how we are ever going to get over it."
Another RUC man, Reserve Constable Derek Elliott, told how he rushed off with a stretcher but wondered why it was so easy to carry.
He then discovered it was the body of a baby.
The constable added that normal procedures were rendered useless in the chaos. "You didn't treat them as you were taught, as in 'strap a leg'; there was no time to strap legs, you knew you had to get them to hospital."
He said everyone wanted an ambulance, and people were in so much shock they thought they were the only ones injured.
"They didn't understand, I didn't understand, the sheer scale of the whole thing was just horrendous.
It was something I never want to see, I never want to hear, those screams, ever again."
He was also faced with the grim task of moving bodies.
"I thought at the beginning it was terrible that there might be ten dead but then we realised it was carnage and the bodies just kept coming."
Constable Colin Doherty said he saw a young girl struggling to escape from underneath the remains of the car bomb which had disintegrated into two wheels and an axle.
Police officers have been offered counselling following the nightmare blast. An RUC spokesman said their occupational health unit has been in Omagh to provide trauma counselling for officers.
"It is on stand-by if any officer feels the need to use it," said the spokesman. He added that many in the emergency services, health authorities and members of the public who witnessed or were involved in the following days had been deeply affected.
By Jonathan Turner and Nevin Farrell
POLICE officers caught up in the carnage of the Omagh bombing spoke for the first time yesterday about their memories of the atrocity.
They described the horrific scenes in the seconds after the blast, as they fought to help the hundreds of people injured.
One officer, who asked only to be known as Jeremy, described how he was on duty in Fintona when his unit received a radio transmission asking desperately for help.
"I couldn't really hear him over the radio," he said. "There was this awful piercing screaming and wailing in the background.
"He said, "this thing's exploded, there are casualties".
For some reason I can't get that transmission out of my head."
When Jeremy and other officers arrived minutes after the bomb had gone off, they found scenes of utter horror.
"As I was driving into Omagh, I could see two wee girls I knew. They were covered in blood.
"They were just holding onto each other, these two wee girls. One of them looked into the car with this complete look of hopelessness on her face and just shook her head.
"In Market Street there was just smoke and glass everywhere. Alarms were going off everywhere. The youngsters, some of them were screaming, and others were just sitting there.
"One young lad was sitting there quiet with the lower half of his leg hanging there. He wasn't even crying.
"He was just sitting there with this look on his face. There was someone working with him already so I went on."
The further down the street police got, the worse the scenes of destruction.
"I remember looking to my left and there was a woman who was just blown up, like she was inside out. I had a first aid kit with me, but a lot of these people were beyond first aid.
"I started trying to deal with the casualties. There were people with legs, limbs missing. The street was just littered with bodies.
"There were some young girls with one of the deceased, just stroking the body and rocking back and forward, wailing hysterically.
"It seemed like every place I turned or went, there were women and children.
"We tried to give first aid to people, but in many cases we were fighting a losing battle with them."
A local priest arrived on the scene and asked how he could help.
"I just said, father, just go to the people and comfort them as best you can. And he said, how can this have happened?"
After many of the casualties had been taken to hospital, the emergency services faced the grim task of searching the buildings and rubble for bodies.
"I found two ladies inside a shop, just sitting there. They couldn't speak or move, but by some sort of miracle they didn't have a scratch on them."
He added: "My colleagues and the ambulance service and fire service were unbelievable, as were the members of the public who helped us.
"But I just don't know how we are ever going to get over it."
Another RUC man, Reserve Constable Derek Elliott, told how he rushed off with a stretcher but wondered why it was so easy to carry.
He then discovered it was the body of a baby.
The constable added that normal procedures were rendered useless in the chaos. "You didn't treat them as you were taught, as in 'strap a leg'; there was no time to strap legs, you knew you had to get them to hospital."
He said everyone wanted an ambulance, and people were in so much shock they thought they were the only ones injured.
"They didn't understand, I didn't understand, the sheer scale of the whole thing was just horrendous.
It was something I never want to see, I never want to hear, those screams, ever again."
He was also faced with the grim task of moving bodies.
"I thought at the beginning it was terrible that there might be ten dead but then we realised it was carnage and the bodies just kept coming."
Constable Colin Doherty said he saw a young girl struggling to escape from underneath the remains of the car bomb which had disintegrated into two wheels and an axle.
Police officers have been offered counselling following the nightmare blast. An RUC spokesman said their occupational health unit has been in Omagh to provide trauma counselling for officers.
"It is on stand-by if any officer feels the need to use it," said the spokesman. He added that many in the emergency services, health authorities and members of the public who witnessed or were involved in the following days had been deeply affected.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0151
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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