'They didn’t die in vain': Remembering the carnage of the Omagh bomb 25 years on
By ITV News Correspondent John Irvine
No matter how inured to violence Northern Ireland had become by 1998, most people here remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the Omagh bomb.
It was such a shocking aberration because of the high death toll, the cross-community impact and the timing.
Twenty-nine people were killed by a republican dissident group, four months after peace had been declared with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
The victims were men, women and children, locals and foreigners, Protestants and Catholics, and neither.
Inaccurate telephone warnings meant the police shepherded people towards the car bomb rather than away from it.
Twenty-five years ago today, Omagh was enjoying a busy, sunny Saturday afternoon.
At 3.10pm it’s heart was ripped out by the 500lb bomb.
The following day a home video emerged showing the immediate aftermath.
What strikes you is just how many people fill the screen.
All are in a state of shock.
Many are bloodied and yelling in pain.
It was carnage that day.
Kate Walls and her friend Rachel Galbraith were in their twenties back then.
Bomb scares were nothing new and they describe the minutes before the blast as relaxed, even carefree.
Then came the massive explosion.
When she came to, what struck Kate first was the absolute silence.
Then came the moaning, the screaming, the alarms and the sirens.
She asked a policeman to help her but he apologised and said others needed him more.
As she tried to get up she noticed a piece of steel had gone through her leg.
She would later lose the limb, below the knee.
Rachel has required many operations over the years and has to have yet another before Christmas.
Kate and Rachel marked this anniversary by fulfilling an ambition that dates back to 1998. They both completed their first ever skydive.
Flying in the face of 25 years of adversity they loved the sense of freedom the jump afforded them.
What strikes you most about the Omagh of today is its unity and resilience.
After being dealt the most appalling of blows, it has recovered while never forgetting.
Michael Gallagher lost his 21-year-old son Aidan in the explosion.
During a chat here on Sunday I suggested to Michael that the bomb galvanised political leaders into honouring the commitments they made under the Good Friday Agreement four months previously.
I ventured that Omagh was a landmark atrocity that effectively ended the Northern Ireland Troubles as we knew them and ushered in a better, peaceful future.
Michael nodded.
“They didn’t die in vain,” he said.
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