FOOTAGE REVIVES MEMORIES OF ENNISKILLEN
Footage revives memories of Enniskillen
By Jim Fitzpatrick
THE man who took the amateur video film of the Enniskillen bomb that shocked the world 10 years ago said yesterday that he'd been reliving the experience since watching the similar pictures of the Omagh atrocity on Saturday.
Enniskillen hotelier Raymond McCartney's film of the poppy day bomb aftermath was, like the amateur footage of Omagh, broadcast to millions of television viewers across the world.
Mr McCartney said the similarity of the images in the Omagh video had caused him to relive the horror of Enniskillen.
"When I saw that footage, that'll stay with the person that took it the rest of their life.
"When I saw the pandemonium in that film I was just reliving Enniskillen, the cries, shouts, the sheer panic. People running everywhere, mothers looking for children, children looking for mothers, you've no idea," he said.
"I can totally sympathise with the people of Omagh and I know exactly what they're going through. I've just been reliving the whole experience from the moment I saw that video footage," he told the Irish News.
More than 10 years ago Raymond McCartney was in Enniskillen when he heard the blast in the town centre.
He just grabbed his camera and ran up the street filming.
He had a pub in the area and thought that had been hit.
"I was quite unaware that I was doing it. It was only when I came home that I realised what I had done," he said.
His video footage became the pictures that told the immediate horror of Enniskillen they were lifted by television stations from Washington to Moscow.
"I did not do it for money nor did I do it like a hardened reporter, you can see from the footage that I was just running up the street with the camera on my shoulder," he said.
Mr McCartney said he was pleased that he'd taken the film, even though it had left him traumatised:
"Even the survivors and bereaved have come to me and said at least the video showed the world outside what had happened."
But the experience has left him traumatised:"I thought I was alright, but sometimes I think I should have got counselling after it.
It's left me now that the slightest thing and tears are running down my face like a child."
Mr McCartney said he hoped that some good would come from the evil of Omagh.
By Jim Fitzpatrick
THE man who took the amateur video film of the Enniskillen bomb that shocked the world 10 years ago said yesterday that he'd been reliving the experience since watching the similar pictures of the Omagh atrocity on Saturday.
Enniskillen hotelier Raymond McCartney's film of the poppy day bomb aftermath was, like the amateur footage of Omagh, broadcast to millions of television viewers across the world.
Mr McCartney said the similarity of the images in the Omagh video had caused him to relive the horror of Enniskillen.
"When I saw that footage, that'll stay with the person that took it the rest of their life.
"When I saw the pandemonium in that film I was just reliving Enniskillen, the cries, shouts, the sheer panic. People running everywhere, mothers looking for children, children looking for mothers, you've no idea," he said.
"I can totally sympathise with the people of Omagh and I know exactly what they're going through. I've just been reliving the whole experience from the moment I saw that video footage," he told the Irish News.
More than 10 years ago Raymond McCartney was in Enniskillen when he heard the blast in the town centre.
He just grabbed his camera and ran up the street filming.
He had a pub in the area and thought that had been hit.
"I was quite unaware that I was doing it. It was only when I came home that I realised what I had done," he said.
His video footage became the pictures that told the immediate horror of Enniskillen they were lifted by television stations from Washington to Moscow.
"I did not do it for money nor did I do it like a hardened reporter, you can see from the footage that I was just running up the street with the camera on my shoulder," he said.
Mr McCartney said he was pleased that he'd taken the film, even though it had left him traumatised:
"Even the survivors and bereaved have come to me and said at least the video showed the world outside what had happened."
But the experience has left him traumatised:"I thought I was alright, but sometimes I think I should have got counselling after it.
It's left me now that the slightest thing and tears are running down my face like a child."
Mr McCartney said he hoped that some good would come from the evil of Omagh.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0691
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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