News NI
A survivor of the Omagh bomb has described how she saw a niece of hers “laying on the bonnet of a car with a piece of metal sticking out of her back”.
Valerie Hamilton was badly injured herself, with shrapnel lodged in her eye and wounds all over her body.
She described how she told a doctor at the scene to take her niece first.
The Real IRA bomb killed 29 people in the County Tyrone town in August 1998, including a woman who was pregnant with twins.
‘Can never be unseen’
Ms Hamilton was at the inquiry, but her statement was read by counsel.
She had been working in the Jewel Box in Omagh on the day of the bomb.
She described how she feared that her five-year-old daughter had been caught up in the blast as she was supposed to be in the town that day.
Fortunately, her child was not in the bomb but two of her nieces were injured and she required surgery.
Ms Hamilton described how what happened to her led to the collapse of her marriage.
“What I saw can never be unseen,” she said.
“It causes me so much stress and tension that I have chronic pain as I relive that day every day.”
She said she now has a “constant fear of dying” and takes medication to help with her anxiety.
‘Lost so many friends’
Ian Ferguson had been working in the family business – a dry cleaners – when the bomb went off.
He described the “carnage” he witnessed after the blast.
“The squealing and crying, the smell of smoke. It was just terrible,” he told the inquiry.
He told the inquiry how he started to help people by lifting them off the ground.
“There were people bleeding so I brought towels, blankets and anything I could get from the shop to use as bandages and help people.
Mr Ferguson said he “felt so thankful” to get back home that night.
He said he developed depression after the bomb – something he has been battling ever since.
He also has perforated eardrums and said his hearing goes.
“That day changed the whole lay out of the street,” he added.
“I lost so many friends and colleagues who never came back to work on the street again.”
Who carried out the Omagh bombing?
Three days after the 1998 attack, the Real IRA released a statement claiming responsibility for the explosion.
It apologised to “civilian” victims and said its targets had been commercial.
Almost 27 years on, no-one has been convicted of carrying out the murders by a criminal court.
In 2009, the judge in that case ruled four of the men – Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were all liable for the Omagh bomb.
The four men were ordered to pay a total of £1.6m in damages to the relatives, but appeals against the ruling delayed the compensation process.
A fifth man, Seamus McKenna, was acquitted in the civil action and later died in a roofing accident in 2013.
The public inquiry
After years of campaigning by relatives, the public inquiry was set to up examine if the Real IRA attack could have been prevented by UK authorities.
This phase of the inquiry is continuing to hear powerful individual testimonies from relatives who lost loved ones in the explosion.
The bombers planned and launched the attack from the Republic of Ireland and the Irish government has promised to co-operate with the inquiry.
However, the victims’ relatives wanted the Irish government to order its own separate public inquiry.
Dublin previously indicated there was no new evidence to merit such a move.
