Police officers today recalled the Omagh bombing as they gave evidence in the civil action being taken by victims against the five men they believe were responsible for the Real IRA attack.
Four officers took the stand at Belfast High Court on the second day of the multi-million-pound action to recall August 15th, 1998 - the day on which 29 people were killed when a car bomb exploded in the heart of the Co Tyrone town on a busy Saturday afternoon.
Six Omagh families affected by the bombing have mounted a civil action against those they believe responsible for the bombing following the failure of the authorities to bring anyone to justice.
The five men named in the action are Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly.
None of the men have attended court. Two - McKevitt and Campbell - are in prison in the Republic for crimes unconnected with the Omagh bombing. All five deny involvement.
Constable Alan Palmer, who had been in the RUC for just a year when the bomb exploded, described the horrific scenes he witnessed when the bomb exploded as police were trying to evacuate the town centre.
Mr Palmer said: “There was carnage. It was a battlefield, it was horrendous. There was mayhem, people screaming and running around with body parts. . . . I saw a man jump into a hole, where he was trying to dig with his hands to see if there was anyone there.”
Sgt Wesley McCracken said: “It was the most horrific sight in my life. I saw the deceased on a fairly regular basis - this was beyond the pale.”
He added: “We helped the injured, we dignified the dead and preserved the scene for a criminal investigation.” Sgt McCracken said the scene so horrendous that police moved bodies away from public view and set up a makeshift mortuary in a side alley.
He said they broke into a curtain shop to get material in which to wrap bodies before they were taken away to a British army base to be identified.
Warning calls had said the bomb was outside the courthouse at the top of the town and they directed people away from there down the hill towards Market Street - where the car bomb had been planted some 400m away from where police believed it to be.
The police officers' evidence was preceded by three home videos shot by people caught up in the bombing. None of the Omagh families were in the court to view the videos.
PA