A survivor of the 1998 Omagh bombing has told the inquiry into the atrocity how the engine of the car containing the device landed on her legs, causing third degree burns from the waist down.
Pauline Harte, then a 19-year-old art student, spent months in hospital and suffered two amputations as a result of the injuries she suffered when the dissident republican bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998.
Ms Harte told the inquiry that after she was taken by police evacuating the area around the courthouse, she “ended up standing beside the [bomb] car.
“My last memory of this time before my life changed was reaching into my pocket to check if I had 95p for the bus fare home, and then the bomb went off.
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“The engine of the car used for the bomb landed on my legs, with the axle resting on my waist, and it was on fire.
“I was on fire underneath it. I didn’t know it was a fire, because fire has the colour yellow in it. I saw deep black, orange and red colours moving, and it sounded as angry as it looked.
“To my knowledge, there were approximately six to eight incredible men who started to rock the engine to try to free me ... burning their hands in the process, these men didn’t stop and tend to their injuries.
“One of the men told me later that he went home with my skin melted into his hands.
“I will never forget their dedication and selfless actions,” she said.
Ms Harte was among a number of people who gave evidence on Tuesday who were injured by, or witnessed, the Real IRA explosion and its aftermath.
The inquiry, which began this current evidence session last month, has already heard pen portraits of the 31 victims, including unborn twins, who were killed when the bomb exploded in the centre of the town.
The hearing, which is taking place in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh, was ordered by the UK government to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities.
The chair of the inquiry, Lord Turnbull, told Ms Harte that few would ever have heard an account of “such appalling physical suffering” as was inflicted upon her. “One can only hope that those responsible or those who condoned this atrocity will learn through the evidence laid in this inquiry of the real nature and effects of their acts on that day.”
He also praised Ms Harte’s care and concern for others, saying he doubted he had ever heard “such an attitude of kindness and generosity being expressed in the face of barbaric violence of the sort which was inflicted upon you.
“Yours is truly an account of survival, and not just of you as a person, it’s also an account of the survival of the qualities of humanity,” Lord Turnbull said.
Earlier on Tuesday, another survivor described the town centre as “like a war zone” with “the walking wounded wandering around like zombies” in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.
In a statement read to the inquiry on her behalf, Edel Doherty described how she had been nearby when the bomb exploded and ran to offer help to the injured and dying.
“It was chaos. People were screaming, crying, and I remember meeting ashen-covered faces. I could only see their eyes.
“There was a horrible smell, and alarms from premises were ringing constantly. The area was filled with smoke. It felt unreal.
“Glass was falling out from buildings. Even though it was chaos, and like a war zone, filled with panic and fear, there was a stillness that felt eerie.
“I just knew without being told that death was evident.”
She found “a young boy, aged between eight and 10 years old, lying in the road ... I knew his injuries were severe and beyond my skills to fix.
“There was a door lying nearby. We used this as a stretcher ... a police Land Rover backed up and, with the help of the police, we placed him in the rear of the Land Rover and it sped off to hospital.”
She said: “The sights that I saw that day remain with me to this day. They were horrendous, body parts, pieces of flesh, broken bodies and water and blood gushing down the street.
“Casualties with clothes blown off them, the walking wounded wandering around like zombies.”
Ian Ferguson told the inquiry he had been working in his family dry cleaning business in the centre of Omagh on the day of the explosion.
“I started to help people, lifting them off the ground. I remember lifting a lady on to a piece of wood and using it as a stretcher to take her down the street.
“I don’t know how long, but I spent most of the day carrying people,” he said.
He described how he brought towels and blankets from the shop to use as bandages.
“I met the late Father [Kevin] Mullan on the street,” Mr Ferguson said. “He was giving people the last rites and I was putting sheets over them.
“I went home that evening, I can’t remember what time, but felt so thankful to be home. A lot of people went to town that day and never came home.”
The inquiry continues.
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