TC/1544

Hardware van commandeered to take casualties to hospital

A VAN from a hardware store on Lower Market Street was commandeered as emergency transport for injured people, the inquest was told.
Constable David Albert Ogle said he had been switched from detail to go to Kilkeel, to duty at Sally O'Brien's, but when the bomb exploded he jumped into a Land Rover which was driven at speed to Market Street.
As he described the carnage and chaos, he said he came across a young girl with severe facial injuries being helped by a young male.
He said blood was streaming down the girl's face and said she could not see. He helped her away from the scene and tried to provide medical assistance.
He said he then helped the young man walk the injured girl back into Market Street where he realised he would have to get transport to hospital. He said he shouted to another youth, who ran to Anderson's and came back with a transit van which was used to ferry the girl and other injured to hospital.
The constable said the majority of people in the van were aged between 19 and 45. Nearly all of them were women.
Ambulances started arriving and he then ran back into the chaos and came across an old lady laying on the pavement. He helped her into the rear of a vehicle. Inside a woman grabbed the elderly lady's legs and held them aloft. She said she was a nurse.
Back on the street he stopped with a young boy who was complaining of stomach pains and he could not open his eyes.
Meanwhile, a car stopped with two woman in the back, but when they put a boy in the back the woman driver panicked and said she could not drive in such circumstances and another woman drove the injured to hospital.
He said the boy did not show any signs of hearing the constable, and from subsequent photographs he had seen he believed the boy to be James Victor Barker. The boy died later in hospital.
Back at Nicholl and Shiels he came across two women in water who were still alive. One had an arm or shoulder injury and was in her 20s, the other was aged between 60 and 70 who was in very severe shock.
The water main was gushing forcefully and a blockage further down the street was causing the water to pond, so, he said, he decided to move the women. The younger one screamed when he moved her both her legs were badly burned.
At this point he noticed the young boy with stomach pains, called Rory, was still lying on the road, so he carried him to a car and placed him in the rear seat and drove him via Irishtown Road to hospital.
He said he checked the bodies of Adrian Gallagher, Oran Doherty and Fernando Blasco Baselga for life signs before being tasked to assist the Army doctor who was checking bodies for signs of life.
He was then detailed to check shops for other casualties, and after the bodies were transferred to the temporary mortuary he took up cordon duty before being stood down.
Secondary devicies
Sergeant Wesley McCracken said he was detailed to check for secondary devices in the area. He said he abandoned the Land Rover when the bomb detonated and started to help the injured.
He said he passed a woman with two small children who shouted at him that the police had driven people into the bomb. He said he made her sit down on the steps of the Land Rover. At this stage she was hysterical and shouting to go home. He instructed a motorist to take her to hospital.
Describing the scene he told the Inquest, "I never saw anything like it".
Someone ran past as he was helping a woman with an arm injury. The person threw him a towel or tea cloth, which he applied to the woman's wound.
Among those he also treated was a man who was not able give his name, but raised his arm and partly opened his eyes. The man seemed to drift into unconsciousness, but witness felt he was going to live. The man was blessed by Fr. Kevin Mullan.
He said a man then came over to him and asked him to help with a young woman who had serious head injuries. The officer said he ran to a shop and found a four-feet long board they used as a stretcher, but they could not move the young woman until they moved the unconscious man as they would have to step over him to help the girl.
The unconscious man was lifted onto a board and carried to the junction at Dublin Road and they attempted to put the young woman onto an Ulsterbus which had arrived but the board would not fit. The van was full as was an ambulance at the scene.
A car came along and they put her across the back seat and the constable told a man to stay with her.
Back at the scene he saw another young woman, Deborah Ann Cartwright, who was lifted and put into the back of a car which had been driven as close as possible to her.
A man got in beside a constable in the car and said he was trained in first aid. The man went to the hospital with Miss Cartwright as well, while the constable said he cleared the road to let them through.
All civilians were cleared from the area, and a search involving police the Fire Brigade and others took place for any further casualties.
In cross-examination he said that there had been 10 police available overall to help deal with the situation.
First aid
Reserve Constable Rodney Allerton said he helped give first aid to numerous people, including Mr. Garry McGillion.
He said he went to get a Land Rover and returned to Market Street and drove the vehicle to the casualty department at Tyrone County Hospital.
Back at Market Street he helped a fireman with a young girl at the front of Nicholl and Shiels, who appeared to be in a very bad state, with a severe injury to her left jaw and a head injury and injury to her arm.
She was alive and from time to time screamed, but fell into unconsciousness. At the hospital someone went to get a doctor, who came back with an IV which they had great difficulty fitting. The girl was taken to Ward 3.
He said as he was leaving the ward a man and a woman asked him if he had seen Miss Samantha McFarland. They were relatives and he assured them that everything would be all right and not to worry.
He said he then used some field dressings he had with him on people arriving at the hospital.
He said he also spoke to relatives of teenager Alan Radford, but it transpired the boy had been killed.
He told the Inquest that he still could not remember all of what happened that day.
Meanwhile, Constable Kenneth McFarland said that it quickly became apparent that many people had been injured in the explosion.
One of his first recollections of the incident was seeing a dead child close to a child's pushchair. He said his attention was drawn to someone screaming and he saw someone alive under the burning remains of a car. The person was freed from under it and he then found a young girl lying on the road.
She appeared to have many cuts and she said her name was Sandy and that her back was painful.
At this stage he was approached by a man named Skelton who wanted him to look for his daughter who was buried under rubble at Kells. The constable said he crossed the street and Mr. Skelton told him he already knew his wife was dead and his daughter had to be close by.
While searching he said he came across two or three members of staff and saw a very distressed pregnant woman at the back of the shop.
He said he went back to Market Street. Sandy was still there. Another female, her sister, was now with her.
He then saw Mr. Sean McGrath, and with another constable carried Mr. McGrath to an Ulsterbus at Dublin Road and got him onto it and into the front seat.
Other injured people were on the bus and he helped to get a young woman around 25 years old onto a chair. The constable said he remained on board and accompanied them all to hospital.
Outside the hospital he heard someone call his name and he saw Mr. Ian Short in a very distressed state. The man's mother, he said, had been very seriously injured. He said that he and others helped to carry Mrs. Short in.

Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION

Ref: TC/1544

Published Date: 21-Sep-00