Two RUC officers have spoken of the horror of wading through bodies and blood on the day of the Omagh bomb in 1998.
A public inquiry into the bomb is set to resume next week into the devastating 500 pound bomb planted by the Real IRA which left 29 people and unborn twins dead on August 15 1998.
A warning phoned in to a news agency 40 minutes before the bomb went off made reference to the Omagh courthouse, with police ushering many members of the public to where it exploded on Market Street.
Speaking to the Sunday World, two retired officers who served during the carnage of that day have spoken of the toll that it has on them to this day.
Officer Phil Marshall described being frozen momentarily in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, but immediately working to help those who had been injured and recover bodies.
“You switch off as a human and get to work. I had young officers under my command, many of them in shock - I had to scream orders at them to snap them back,” he told the paper.
“I remember all that was left of the car was the engine block, which had come down on top of two people and was on fire. With the help of a civilian we pulled them out. One died.
“The explosion had blown the water main. Water stained red with blood was flowing down the street. I lifted a baby girl out of a shop window, I had a daughter of my own that age, she and my wife were in town that day and I had no idea where they were.
“I felt something bumping into my leg - it was a body being washed down the street.”
“We looted Boots, grabbing sanitary towels, facecloths, cotton wool - anything that could soak up blood. We took curtains, sheets, pillowcases from a haberdashery to cover the dead.”
Richard Scott, another RUC officer who was off duty at the time but lived nearby, described the hugely difficult task of dealing with the bodies of those who lost their lives.
“We had 14 bodies in here, we couldn’t fit in any more. We treated them with the utmost respect; they were covered and treated gently with dignity.
“You have to remember this is our town, some of us knew these people, some were related to officers who were on the ground that day.
“We picked up a young girl whose stomach was ripped open, her insides were literally spilling out, we tried to push them back in and we got her into a car to take her to hospital. Thankfully she survived.”
The public inquiry into the largest single loss of life in the north during the Troubles officially got underway in February 2024 when the UK government issued its terms of reference.
From Monday 27 January, the inquiry is hosting four weeks of commemorative and personal statement hearings in the Co Tyrone town.
Mr Scott, who helped set up support group Military and Police Support (MAPS) in Omagh, expressed caution over the resumption of the inquiry.
One of the key questions sought to be answered by the inquiry is whether the the UK state could have prevented the events of that day. The government announced the inquiry in response to a High Court judgment, which found there were specific issues which might suggest that the bombing could have been prevented.
“We (police) were abandoned, there was nothing for us. Hundreds of officers were involved on that day and in the investigation. 30 of them have come to us, so there’s hundreds carrying this around in their heads and fearful the inquiry will blame them,” he said.
“It’s a tinderbox and this inquiry has the potential to hurt and damage a lot of officers. I don’t know if there was any intelligence, I don’t know if they had forewarning, that’s nothing to do with us.”
