UH/0175

Aftermath of bomb was like a scene from hell - RUC officer

A POLICE officer who has witnessed at first hand some of the worst atrocities of the troubles said that the carnage that confronted him at Market Street will haunt him for the rest of his life.
"It was like a scene from hell" recalled a traumatised Sergeant Phil Marshall who has been unable to sleep or eat since the carbomb explosion twelve days ago.
The Omagh based Sergeant, who has been in the RUC for seventeen years, was one of those who went to the scene of the Ballygawley bus bombing but he said the scenes he was confronted with last Saturday were the "worst ever".
Recalling his first thoughts as he came upon the carnage, seconds after the explosion, he said "I thought this is unreal. This is not happening. I was just numb.
"It was just so senseless and I looked around and I thought why has this happened. I felt so bloody useless.
"the one thing that really got to me was the screaming of the women, because there were so many female casualties," he said.
As a local man he said it was very hard to take as he knew many of the people, having served in Omagh for the past thirteen years.
Sergeant Marshall had been in Omagh town that afternoon to evacuate people from High Street after the bomb warning was received but he did not expect to witness the carnage that he did, believing the bomb had been placed at the Courthouse.
"I was evacuating John Street and a lot of people were not happy because they had to leave the pubs. But I knew the bomb warning was serious. The same codeword was used in the Banbridge bombing.
"When we got the streets cleared at the top of the town I remember looking down and thinking "this is perfect". It looked like a ghost-town and I knew if anything exploded it would only be buildings that would be brought down"
However, seconds later a 500lb car bomb exploded and the horrific images that a bomb instils became a reality for the police officer.
"I heard an almighty bang. I could see flumes of grey rising into the air and the tinkling of glass coming down and I just ran like hell towards Market Street as fast as I could."
It was the scene of the dead, maimed and injured, mainly women and children, that confronted Sergeant Marshall as he ran into Market Street. Scenes he, nor the young officers under his command, will ever be allowed to forget
"It was like a scene from hell. There were bits of people everywhere
"None of my officers were in any way prepared for that. Those scenes will haunt us for the rest of our lives. When you go to bed you wake up reliving it, you can't eat and you can't sleep."
"I remember the first thing I saw was a young boy with most of his jaw missing and as I went further down Market Street the worse it got.
A large part of the car, which contained the bomb, was on fire in the middle of the road, and people were trapped underneath it, said the Sergeant.
"I remember a civilian handing me two fire extinguishers so that I could put the blaze out. We managed to pull the people out from under it.
For the next five harrowing hours Sergeant Marshall, in the midst of mayhem, tended to the injured, got them to hospital, searched buildings for the living and the dead and helped to wrap the bodies in as dignified a manner as was possible at the time.
He refuses to accept that he was a hero - an honour bestowed upon him by his colleagues - but his quick thinking to get an emergency plan into place at the scene undoubtedly saved lives, and allowed the dead to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity.
"My human feelings just switched off, they had to or I would have just fallen apart. I knew the link needed to be kept going and some sort of order had to be put in place to deal with the atrocity. But I did feel so bloody useless.
"It was overwhelming, it was just too much. I do not know how I kept going. I think it was adrenalin.
"I knew a channel of communication had to be kept going or the whole thing would have fallen apart. I knew that someone had to get some semblance of order."
One of the most difficult tasks that the officer had to face was deciding which of the injured and maimed need to be helped first.
"There were multiple causalities and we had to decide who to go to first. There were people begging for help and I thought if they can speak then the first thing to do is to tend to those people who could not speak, or breathe."
Lack of resources was a problem but one that was overcome by everyone involved in the rescue operation.
"There were doors being pulled out and blankets used so that we could ferry the injured away from the scene. I detailed two people to every person bodily injured. One to stem the bleeding and another to talk to them. "I remember at one point someone handing me nappies and I thought what the hell are all these nappies for. But there could have been nothing better to use to stem the bleeding.
"It was like bloody bedlam for about twenty minutes and we were trying to comfort those who could not speak.
"The other problem was that there was no transport so when the buses arrived that was an absolute godsend. We were also stopping cars and pulling the drivers out and telling them to take the badly injured to hospital. We didn't even know who these people were."
Knowing that he had to get all the injured away from the scene, the Sergeant recalls how he stood in the middle of Market Street and yelled at the top of his voice to get everyone's attention "I grabbed a couple of policemen to get them to get everyone back to the junction and away from the scene. We were just telling the public to tend to the injured and leave us at the scene."
He grabbed Fr Kevin Mullan and Councillor Paddy McGowan and asked them to use their influence to keep people out.
"We then ran a tape across the bottom of the street and put a line of policemen in place."
Officers, police and fire, then began a search of the devastated buildings to see if any of the injured were trapped inside.
"We did a quick sweep and when I entered McElroy's shop there was a woman just standing there in the middle of the shop and there was not a scrape on her. I could not believe it. She was deeply shocked.
The harrowing task of finding the dead then began. "We couldn't get any nurses or doctors as they had all gone to the hospital but there was an army doctor there and he was a godsend. He came with me to each of those killed and examined them before pronouncing them dead.
"We then had to wrap the bodies with as much dignity as we could at the time I detailed my men to lift the bodies away from the immediate scene as I did not want cameras on the dead. I can say that all the bodies were treated with the utmost dignity."
For the next hour and a half arrangements were set in place to have those murdered conveyed to a temporary morgue at Lisanelly Army Camp.
In a combined effort throughout the rescue operation the support of the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Ambulance Officer was invaluable. Sergeant Marshall praised the public, ambulance and fire brigade for their efforts.
"No matter what I asked them to do for me they did it. The public were brilliant. I think the people of Omagh have been understanding and their messages of support afterwards are appreciated.
"Everyone just mucked in at the scene and did their bit. We tried to achieve a system and we took a hell of a lot of risks that would not normally be taken.
He also paid tribute to his family "They have been brilliant and I have damn good colleagues and they are supporting me through this."
He also paid tribute to the army medics who helped at the scene and at the hospital, including the doctor wife of one medic who spent two days helping out at the County.
But his greatest tribute is to the young policemen under his command who were at the scene with him.
One officer in particular had been helping at the scene, unaware that he had been injured.
"Someone said his back was red so when we looked his back had been ripped with glass. But he refused to leave until he had helped and knew that everyone was all right.
"I can't praise my officers enough. What I asked them to do, no human should ever have to do. It is some introduction to the job. They have never experienced anything like that, and training would never prepare them for that.
"A number of the young officers who were with me at the scene of the blast are blaming themselves. But if the same situation were to happen today it would have been dealt with no differently. They should not lay any blame with themselves.
"We have all received a lot of support here and have been helping each other. We have been trying to get these officers to overcome their trauma by little steps such as walking up the town again. Everything takes time.
"But I can honestly say that I have immense pride in being a member of the RUC."

Publisher: ULSTER HERALD

Ref: UH/0175

Published Date: 27-Aug-98