PRIEST CRIED OUT IN DISBELIEF AT HORRENDOUS SCENES
Priest cried out in disbelief at horrendous scenes
A LOCAL priest has described how he cried out in disbelief, when he came upon the horrendous scenes in Omagh's Market Street, minutes after the bomb went off.
Rev. Kevin Mullan, a curate at Christ the King Church at Strathroy, heard the explosion from his home, and drove immediately to Lisanelly Army Camp, believing that had been the target of the bombers.
When he realised the bomb had been in the town centre, he made his way there, only to be confronted with a "scene of utter horror".
"I was crying out in disbelief. I could not believe there were so many people dead in our town, and I was terrified that I was going to find a relation among those lying there," Fr. Mullan said.
He said he administered to the dead and dying, anointing and saying prayers over the bodies strewn across the street.
Other clergy members also came to the scene to offer assistance, he said.
Speaking of the hundreds of people who had been led to their destruction, he said: "Ghosts are going to wander always around this corner of the street - the daughter, mother and granddaughter, the foreign children who stepped, singing off their bus, the father and son returned that morning from their holiday, the 28 at least who will neither see nor be seen here any more."
He said the community was now walking together to bury its dead in their too-early graves, as well as walking together into the future.
"We must not betray their poor ghosts," he said.
A LOCAL priest has described how he cried out in disbelief, when he came upon the horrendous scenes in Omagh's Market Street, minutes after the bomb went off.
Rev. Kevin Mullan, a curate at Christ the King Church at Strathroy, heard the explosion from his home, and drove immediately to Lisanelly Army Camp, believing that had been the target of the bombers.
When he realised the bomb had been in the town centre, he made his way there, only to be confronted with a "scene of utter horror".
"I was crying out in disbelief. I could not believe there were so many people dead in our town, and I was terrified that I was going to find a relation among those lying there," Fr. Mullan said.
He said he administered to the dead and dying, anointing and saying prayers over the bodies strewn across the street.
Other clergy members also came to the scene to offer assistance, he said.
Speaking of the hundreds of people who had been led to their destruction, he said: "Ghosts are going to wander always around this corner of the street - the daughter, mother and granddaughter, the foreign children who stepped, singing off their bus, the father and son returned that morning from their holiday, the 28 at least who will neither see nor be seen here any more."
He said the community was now walking together to bury its dead in their too-early graves, as well as walking together into the future.
"We must not betray their poor ghosts," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0057
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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