Omagh

August 15 1998

U L S T E R H E R A L D

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JACKIE SLOAN

ColdType Fall 2002

ears have flowed freely in Omagh andsurrounding districts in the short few dayssince the worst atrocity ever in the last 30years of violence here was visited on thetown on Saturday.In the years ahead, that

day will be used as a marker by which we gauge our lives.For us all our existence will be measured in terms of thingswhich happened before or after this traumatic event. Thesheer scale of the appalling tragedy which unfolded on theFeast of the Assumption still beggars belief within acommunity where hardly a family has been left untouchedby its ferocity.

Indeed, throughout the world, the events which tookplace in Omagh have elicited a wave of sympathy, regretand condemnation as the sheer brutality andsenselessness of the cowardly bomb attack which has left28 people dead and some 200 injured began to hit home.The unseen malignant hand which reached out andtouched so many lives has seemingly left little room forhope, and has brought with it only an overwhelming senseof sorrow.

Those who witnessed the awful scenes at Market Street

on Saturday afternoon and the equally traumatic aftermathwhich followed at local hospitals, cannot fail to have beentouched, angered and tempted towards despair.

Attempts to stem the tide of grief which has beenevoked amongst the bereaved seem at this stage to bealmost futile. No words can describe the indescribable. Noword of comfort, no matter how heartfelt, can console theinconsolable, yet we must continue to try and do so.

To do otherwise would be an abdication of ourresponsibilities to those that have suffered so much. Theycannot be left in any doubt that they are constantly in ourhearts and in our prayers. They cannot be left in any doubtthat their loss is our loss, their pain is our pain.

More than anything else, however, they must be giventime to grieve. For the moment thoughts of the future, ofpeace processes and wider implications of Saturday’soutrage are totally irrelevant. The human tragedy is suchthat it requires all our concentration to cope with thesimple process of trying to come through this ordealtogether. The wider world can move on if it must, but forthe savaged communities in and around Omagh, theprocess of healing will be a much more gradual one.

SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

EDITORIAL

T

Rescue workersremove the body ofone of the victims ofSaturday’s bombing.

Right: Firemen usecranes to help themexamine the remains of abuilding as the search forvictims continued.

Above: An exhaustedfireman takes a breakfrom the testing task ofsifting through therubble at Market Street.

Above: JohnPrescott speaks tothe media followinghis visit to Tyrone CountyHospital. He isflanked by JohnMcFall and DeputyFirst MinisterSeamus Mallon.

Left: John McFall,Economy Ministerfor NorthernIreland, showsBritain’s DeputyPrime Minister JohnPrescott the sceneof the devastationwhen he visited thetown on Sunday.

Tearful remembrance asthree police officers takeflowers to the scene ofthe tragedy.

Left: A youngchild reaches outto touch one of thefloral tributes.

Above: Signoutside one of theshops hit by thebomb blast.

Left and above: people cometogether in remembrance of thevictims at the candle-lit vigilattended by 5,000 people on theTuesday after the bombing.

Above: Thousandsof people turnedout for the vigil onthe eve of thefunerals.

Right: Mourners packthe centre of Omaghfor the Act of PrayerfulReflection a week afterthe bomb attack.

“Our existence will be measured in terms of things

which happened before or after this traumatic event”

W O R D S A N D P H O T O G R A P H S F R O M T H E U L S T E R H E R A L D , A U G U S T 2 0 & A U G U S T 2 7, 1 9 9 8

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