24 HOURS WAITING TO HEAR MY BROTHER WAS DEAD
24 hours waiting to hear my brother was dead
By JEANNETTE OLDHAM
THE brother of one of the Omagh bomb's youngest victims told yesterday how he only heard of the youngster's death a day after he died at the scene.
Tragic Alan Radford, 16, died instantly from horrific shrapnel wounds but his family had to wait an agonising 24 hours to learn the awful truth.
His devastated brother Paul, 29, who tore round hospital wards for much of that time looking for Alan, said he only believed he was dead when he saw him lying in the morgue.
With the horror of that moment written across his face, he said: "I could see his hair above the sheet, it was all ruffled and unwashed. I knew it was him straight away and then they pulled back the sheet and I saw his wee face, his eyes were open and he looked stunned.
"He had this awful look of amazement in his eyes, that's how he died, wondering what in God's earth had happened to him.
"I'm glad he died instantly, that he didn't know anything, because he was a very gentle lad who hated the sight of blood."
Alan was shopping in the town with his mum when the bomb warning came. "He always went shopping with his mum on Saturdays and carried her bags for her, he was such a good lad," Paul said.
"But Alan slipped away from his mum to do a bit of his own shopping. He wandered into Market Street and seconds later the bomb went off."
His mum suffered shrapnel wounds but was not seriously hurt, She lay nearby shouting her son's name, unaware that he was lying dead round the corner.
Paul had heard the explosion from his Castleview Park home and rushed to the Lisanally Army camp, which he thought might have been the target.
"I then ran to the hospital. I saw my mum in casualty. She was bleeding and crying. She screamed at me 'Where's Alan?'
"I said 'don't worry, I'll find him, let's look after you first'.
"I took her into the outpatients area, where the less seriously injured were being treated. And then I went off to find Alan."
It was then that Paul's nightmare search for his younger brother began.
He tore through hospital wards, staring at the barely recognisable faces of injured people he knew.
Paul said: "But there was no Alan. I kept hoping but I was panicking."
He returned to the bomb scene, where he and his best friend David Graham were asked by police to help ferry the dead and dying to the hospital.
David said: "We put four people in my car and took them to hospital and then came back for more.
"We were just picking up bits of bodies and limbs and trying to put them with the people they belonged to."
Soon afterwards a shell-shocked Paul raced to the makeshift incident room at the leisure centre.
He scoured ever-increasing lists of the feared dead and injured but could not see Alan's name.
"I got a bit of hope from that. Then I spoke to a man who had been putting bodies into bags.
"I described what Alan was wearing and he said he didn't remember seeing anyone like that. My hopes went up again."
But he found it hard to keep on hoping as fresh lists of missing people failed to bear Alan's name.
He went to the makeshift morgue at the Army camp and was told there were bodies there but that nobody was being allowed in.
Back at the leisure centre, Paul waited several more hours.
"In the end I had to get out of there. I went to a bar with a friend and had about five whiskies.
"But I couldn't think properly. Everything was mad."
For a further 10 claustrophobic hours he sat holed up in his house waiting for word.
But there was no news until morning. At 10am, a friend knocked at the door and broke the dreadful news that plunged this loving brother into a living hell.
"It was the waiting that was the worst thing of all. He died at the scene but it took all of that time for us to find out."
His voice breaks as he tries to draw breath and puff on his fifth cigarette in just 10 minutes.
"We will never get over this."
Yesterday Paul was helping to comfort the rest of the family, including his heartbroken mum.
Alan's younger sister Claire, 14, was finding her loss too hard to bear: "She's very withdrawn, she loved Alan so much," said Paul.
Paul had only one thing to say about the men who robbed him of his gentle brother.
"They are scum, animals, they are utter utter scum."
Alan leaves five sisters and two brothers.
By JEANNETTE OLDHAM
THE brother of one of the Omagh bomb's youngest victims told yesterday how he only heard of the youngster's death a day after he died at the scene.
Tragic Alan Radford, 16, died instantly from horrific shrapnel wounds but his family had to wait an agonising 24 hours to learn the awful truth.
His devastated brother Paul, 29, who tore round hospital wards for much of that time looking for Alan, said he only believed he was dead when he saw him lying in the morgue.
With the horror of that moment written across his face, he said: "I could see his hair above the sheet, it was all ruffled and unwashed. I knew it was him straight away and then they pulled back the sheet and I saw his wee face, his eyes were open and he looked stunned.
"He had this awful look of amazement in his eyes, that's how he died, wondering what in God's earth had happened to him.
"I'm glad he died instantly, that he didn't know anything, because he was a very gentle lad who hated the sight of blood."
Alan was shopping in the town with his mum when the bomb warning came. "He always went shopping with his mum on Saturdays and carried her bags for her, he was such a good lad," Paul said.
"But Alan slipped away from his mum to do a bit of his own shopping. He wandered into Market Street and seconds later the bomb went off."
His mum suffered shrapnel wounds but was not seriously hurt, She lay nearby shouting her son's name, unaware that he was lying dead round the corner.
Paul had heard the explosion from his Castleview Park home and rushed to the Lisanally Army camp, which he thought might have been the target.
"I then ran to the hospital. I saw my mum in casualty. She was bleeding and crying. She screamed at me 'Where's Alan?'
"I said 'don't worry, I'll find him, let's look after you first'.
"I took her into the outpatients area, where the less seriously injured were being treated. And then I went off to find Alan."
It was then that Paul's nightmare search for his younger brother began.
He tore through hospital wards, staring at the barely recognisable faces of injured people he knew.
Paul said: "But there was no Alan. I kept hoping but I was panicking."
He returned to the bomb scene, where he and his best friend David Graham were asked by police to help ferry the dead and dying to the hospital.
David said: "We put four people in my car and took them to hospital and then came back for more.
"We were just picking up bits of bodies and limbs and trying to put them with the people they belonged to."
Soon afterwards a shell-shocked Paul raced to the makeshift incident room at the leisure centre.
He scoured ever-increasing lists of the feared dead and injured but could not see Alan's name.
"I got a bit of hope from that. Then I spoke to a man who had been putting bodies into bags.
"I described what Alan was wearing and he said he didn't remember seeing anyone like that. My hopes went up again."
But he found it hard to keep on hoping as fresh lists of missing people failed to bear Alan's name.
He went to the makeshift morgue at the Army camp and was told there were bodies there but that nobody was being allowed in.
Back at the leisure centre, Paul waited several more hours.
"In the end I had to get out of there. I went to a bar with a friend and had about five whiskies.
"But I couldn't think properly. Everything was mad."
For a further 10 claustrophobic hours he sat holed up in his house waiting for word.
But there was no news until morning. At 10am, a friend knocked at the door and broke the dreadful news that plunged this loving brother into a living hell.
"It was the waiting that was the worst thing of all. He died at the scene but it took all of that time for us to find out."
His voice breaks as he tries to draw breath and puff on his fifth cigarette in just 10 minutes.
"We will never get over this."
Yesterday Paul was helping to comfort the rest of the family, including his heartbroken mum.
Alan's younger sister Claire, 14, was finding her loss too hard to bear: "She's very withdrawn, she loved Alan so much," said Paul.
Paul had only one thing to say about the men who robbed him of his gentle brother.
"They are scum, animals, they are utter utter scum."
Alan leaves five sisters and two brothers.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/050
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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