AMIN-ERA DOCTOR TELLS OF SCALE OF DISASTER
Amin-era doctor tells of scale of disaster
A CONSULTANT surgeon exposed to Idi Amin's reign of terror in Uganda had never experienced anything to rival the Omagh bomb carnage, the High Court heard yesterday. Dr Dominic Pinto, who led the emergency response at Tyrone County Hospital after the explosion, said the sheer scale of victims was for him unparalleled.
He recalled rushing to work from the golf course after hearing a deafening bang from the town centre. "As soon as I opened the doors leading to Accident and Emergency I could see the scale of what we were going to have to tend to. "It was sheer pandemonium. This was not a major incident but a disaster of battlefield proportions," he said. He saw wounded and dying all around, with departments overflowing and people lying in corridors.
His emotional evidence, read by Brett Lockhart QC, representing the families, Dr Pinto told how a 10-year-old boy bled to death as staff battled in vain to save him. An 18-month old child could not be revived, while the daughter of a close friend and colleague also died. Dr Pinto said that between 1970 and 1973 he had worked in Uganda and seen the most horrific injuries. But he said: "What made the Omagh bombing unique was the sheer scale of the devastation." Twenty-five of those killed died at the bomb site; four died during treatment or on their way to hospital.
A CONSULTANT surgeon exposed to Idi Amin's reign of terror in Uganda had never experienced anything to rival the Omagh bomb carnage, the High Court heard yesterday. Dr Dominic Pinto, who led the emergency response at Tyrone County Hospital after the explosion, said the sheer scale of victims was for him unparalleled.
He recalled rushing to work from the golf course after hearing a deafening bang from the town centre. "As soon as I opened the doors leading to Accident and Emergency I could see the scale of what we were going to have to tend to. "It was sheer pandemonium. This was not a major incident but a disaster of battlefield proportions," he said. He saw wounded and dying all around, with departments overflowing and people lying in corridors.
His emotional evidence, read by Brett Lockhart QC, representing the families, Dr Pinto told how a 10-year-old boy bled to death as staff battled in vain to save him. An 18-month old child could not be revived, while the daughter of a close friend and colleague also died. Dr Pinto said that between 1970 and 1973 he had worked in Uganda and seen the most horrific injuries. But he said: "What made the Omagh bombing unique was the sheer scale of the devastation." Twenty-five of those killed died at the bomb site; four died during treatment or on their way to hospital.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0914
Published Date: 09-Apr-08
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