Day 4

Tuesday 18th

Names released

Police officially released the names of the 28 people who had died. The final total of 29 was reached 3 weeks later on the 5th September when Sean McGrath died in hospital. For a list of those who died click here. The funerals of Rocio Abad Ramos and Fernando Blasco Baselga take place in Madrid.

Belfast vigil

Traffic came to a standstill in the city centre during a poignant 15-minute tribute organised by Belfast City Council. A dignified silence fell as the names of the 28 people who died in the Omagh blast, aged between 18 months and 65-years-old, were read out. The lord mayor councillor David Alderdice said, "This is a time to stand and reflect. This is a time for prayers, not for speeches".

Omagh's candlelight vigil

The town which had been so quiet and empty for the past few days became crowded as thousands of people poured in to mourn the dead and injured in Saturday's explosion. Three community workers read aloud the names of those who had died. Flowers were then taken to the site of the bomb. Policemen were weighed down with bunches of flowers bearing messages of hurt and disbelief. Visibly distressed, they laid the tributes at the site where 28 people had died.

Internet messages

The  book of condolences on the Belfast Telegraph's website received 4,000 messages from all over the world in just two days.

First funerals

Fr James Grimes, the main celebrant of the funeral Mass in Augher of his niece Mrs Avril Monaghan, and her daughter Maura aged 18 months, was joined by the Bishop of Clogher the Most Rev Dr Joseph Duffy. Bishop Duffy said "we are bereaved as a nation" as once again we "face insanity, perverse insanity". In scenes that were repeated at every funeral, Protestant and Roman Catholic families stood side by side in support of each other.

Spanish injured flown home

Eight of the Spanish injured were flown home from RAF Aldergrove. Four more of the group, three girls and a boy, remained in three Ulster hospitals too ill to make the journey home to Spain. The casualties and their families spent 15 minutes chatting to the Prince of Wales, newly arrived in the province, who asked to meet the injured Spaniards. As they boarded the aircraft the survivors and their families received words of comfort from their deputy prime minister Francisco Alvarez-Cascos.

Prince Charles

The Prince of Wales described the bomb as "an appalling tragedy" when he visited the town. He met and spoke with the bereaved and their families and visited the hospital. He took time to meet some of the hundreds of people who lined the streets. He was then driven to Drumragh Avenue where he laid a wreath made from flowers picked from his own garden.