Injured officer tells of efforts to help victims in Omagh bomb devastation
Police officers who served in Omagh in 1998 have been giving evidence to a public inquiry into the Real IRA bombing.
A police officer injured in the Omagh bombing has described how he tried to help victims in the scenes of devastation which followed the explosion.
Allan Palmer, an RUC constable in 1998, told the Omagh Bombing Inquiry that he remembered seeing people lying dead in front of him in the moments following the blast.
A statement from Mr Palmer was read to the inquiry. It said he was on duty in the Co Tyrone town in August 15 1998, when he received notification of a bomb alert in the area of the town’s courthouse.
He said he directed traffic away and began to evacuate pedestrians and shop owners away from the area.
He said pedestrians were moved towards the bottom of Market Street, where the car containing the bomb had been left.
Mr Palmer said: “As we continued to move down Market Street the bomb exploded.
“All I can recall is a flash of light, a great suction and a sharp piercing pain in my back.
“At the moment the bomb exploded I was a short distance away and shards of glass from the shop windows fell into my back.”
He added: “I remember seeing all the people who were in front of me lying dead and those who remained alive had sustained serious injuries.”
He said: “There was a buggy lying close to the bomb site but there was no child. I looked for the child but to no avail.
“I then watched a man jump into the bomb crater, which was now filled with water to see if there was anyone in the area, but no-one was found.
“I saw a woman lying on the ground with the engine of a car on top of her. Some men were trying to get the engine off her.
“I saw a male person lying near a gutter with his head on fire.
“I saw another young male lying on the ground with serious injuries to his face. There was nothing I could do to save his life.”
Mr Palmer’s statement said he was told he needed medical help, so he was driven in a RUC Land Rover to Omagh hospital, with injured victims in the back of the vehicle.
He said: “We made our way to the hospital. We transported a woman with a severe leg wound and on arrival at the hospital brought her to the entrance, just to be told that there was no more room.
“On getting out of the police Land Rover at the hospital, a man approached my colleague and I before handing us the leg of a person wrapped in a blanket.
“We brought the leg into the accident and emergency department and handed it to a member of the medical team.”
He said they were then re-directed to the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen.
There he was told by a doctor that he needed medical attention for the cuts on his back.
His statement said: “I will never forget the horror of what I witnessed at the scene of the Omagh bomb.
“The memories and emotions that I carry with me every day are too many to include in this statement.
“The horrors, the guilt, the helplessness, the anger, the hurt and more have all had a serious impact on both my physical and psychological health.
“To the families and survivors, I would like to reassure you that as a police officer working on that day, my only concern was to help, serve and protect your loved ones.”
The inquiry then heard a statement from Julian Elliot, who was an RUC sergeant in Omagh in 1998.
He told how he was sent to the town’s leisure centre, which was being used as an information point for families, in the wake of the explosion.
He said: “You can imagine the stampede that there was. A massive amount of people could not get hold of their relatives.”
Later, he went to the army barracks in the town, where the gym was being used as a temporary mortuary.
He said: “It was a horrendous sight to see the bays lined up in the gym, right the way around it, with a body in each bay and a number.
“Whatever state they were in, they were laid out like that.”
He told the inquiry that he spoke to the families of several people who had died.
He said: “I was never trained for this. I was never given any preparation for the like of this. This was a huge, momentous and horrendous occasion.”
He added: “It affected me greatly afterwards. I saw these people in my sleep.”
