MEMORIES WILL HAUNT FOREVER
Memories will haunt forever
An Omagh man will forever relive the horrific memory of seeing the bodies of fifteen people, including a two year old child, lying dead in Market Street after bearing the full force of a 500lb bomb.
51 year old Frank Pancott was just seconds from the scene of carnage and his account is as harrowing as the many others from eyewitnesses caught up in the Market Street explosion at seven minutes past three on one of the town's busiest Saturdays since Christmas.
"I will never get over this. Every time I turn the corner of Market Street I will see fifteen bodies lying in front of me, as they did today," he told one of our reporters just hours after the explosion.
He told how he was surrounded by pure devastation as people had moved towards the bomb. Recounting the scene of terrible carnage, Frank told how he counted fifteen people dead, including a young child, of about two.
"I turned the corner and the first thing I saw was the remains of a two year old child, on the ground.
"I also saw a hand in the rubble and beside it there was a man lying dead with his leg cut off above the knee.
"The cover of a manhole had been blown out and a girl was lying in the manhole in a foetal position. Then a water main busted so we had to get her out of there quickly.
When asked if the girl survived he answered "It didn't look good". Frank walked past a young man lying in the street who was coughing blood.
"I got down beside him. I did not know if he was alive or dead. I told him that if he could hear me to move his lips. He did, but he could not speak. His hair was singed and he was badly injured.
"We got a table top and moved him onto it and put him into the back of a vehicle."
On the mercy journey to the hospital of the injured Frank watched as three people lost their lives through horrific injuries.
Frank is at a loss to fine the words to describe his ordeal or his feelings of the perpetrator's of Saturday's carnage.
"They are just complete scum. These are not even animals because animals would not have done what they did today. They have taken human life. If nobody was meant to be hurt they should not have planted a bomb in a busy street on a Saturday afternoon.
"It is mostly women and children that have been killed. The mother of a young child was lying in a shop window and she was trying her best to reach the child, despite her injuries. She was more concerned about her baby than herself.
"If this is the Real IRA that has done this then I ask what is real about them. I am a Catholic. I did not ask them to do this for me. I would like their mothers and fathers to walk down the streets of Omagh and see the devastation and desecration of human life that their sons are responsible for.
"They have no right to do this. Hanging is just too good for them.
"I never want to see what I have seen today. It was just a total disregard for human life.
Frank is also bitter towards the Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and says "he just disgusts me".
"These splinter groups lave arms and explosives and they are getting them from somewhere.
"I will never get back to normal. I will always see fifteen bodies up the street when I turn the corner. They were torn to pieces like rag dolls."
An Omagh man will forever relive the horrific memory of seeing the bodies of fifteen people, including a two year old child, lying dead in Market Street after bearing the full force of a 500lb bomb.
51 year old Frank Pancott was just seconds from the scene of carnage and his account is as harrowing as the many others from eyewitnesses caught up in the Market Street explosion at seven minutes past three on one of the town's busiest Saturdays since Christmas.
"I will never get over this. Every time I turn the corner of Market Street I will see fifteen bodies lying in front of me, as they did today," he told one of our reporters just hours after the explosion.
He told how he was surrounded by pure devastation as people had moved towards the bomb. Recounting the scene of terrible carnage, Frank told how he counted fifteen people dead, including a young child, of about two.
"I turned the corner and the first thing I saw was the remains of a two year old child, on the ground.
"I also saw a hand in the rubble and beside it there was a man lying dead with his leg cut off above the knee.
"The cover of a manhole had been blown out and a girl was lying in the manhole in a foetal position. Then a water main busted so we had to get her out of there quickly.
When asked if the girl survived he answered "It didn't look good". Frank walked past a young man lying in the street who was coughing blood.
"I got down beside him. I did not know if he was alive or dead. I told him that if he could hear me to move his lips. He did, but he could not speak. His hair was singed and he was badly injured.
"We got a table top and moved him onto it and put him into the back of a vehicle."
On the mercy journey to the hospital of the injured Frank watched as three people lost their lives through horrific injuries.
Frank is at a loss to fine the words to describe his ordeal or his feelings of the perpetrator's of Saturday's carnage.
"They are just complete scum. These are not even animals because animals would not have done what they did today. They have taken human life. If nobody was meant to be hurt they should not have planted a bomb in a busy street on a Saturday afternoon.
"It is mostly women and children that have been killed. The mother of a young child was lying in a shop window and she was trying her best to reach the child, despite her injuries. She was more concerned about her baby than herself.
"If this is the Real IRA that has done this then I ask what is real about them. I am a Catholic. I did not ask them to do this for me. I would like their mothers and fathers to walk down the streets of Omagh and see the devastation and desecration of human life that their sons are responsible for.
"They have no right to do this. Hanging is just too good for them.
"I never want to see what I have seen today. It was just a total disregard for human life.
Frank is also bitter towards the Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and says "he just disgusts me".
"These splinter groups lave arms and explosives and they are getting them from somewhere.
"I will never get back to normal. I will always see fifteen bodies up the street when I turn the corner. They were torn to pieces like rag dolls."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0007
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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