Editing Omagh bombing (section)

=== Explosion and aftermath ===
[[File:Omagh after blast.jpg|thumb|right|The scene in Market Street minutes after the bomb went off]]
The car bomb exploded at 15:04 [[British Summer Time|BST]] in the crowded shopping area.<ref name="BBC" /> It tore the car into deadly shrapnel and created a fireball and shockwave. People were caught in "a storm" of glass, masonry and metal, as the blast destroyed shop fronts and blew the roofs off buildings. A thick cloud of dust and smoke filled the street. The blast was so strong that it tore up concrete and pipes burst; the water, running down the street, turned red from the blood of dead and wounded people. Within twenty-five minutes journalists were on the street taking pictures. Twenty-one people who had been standing near the bomb were killed outright. Eight more died on the way to or in a hospital.<ref name="dead" />

Injured survivor Marion Radford described hearing an "unearthly bang", followed by "an eeriness, a darkness that had just come over the place", then screams as she saw "bits of bodies, limbs" on the ground while she searched for her 16-year-old son, Alan. She later discovered he had been killed yards away from her after the two became separated minutes before the blast.<ref name="Panorama">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/panorama/transcripts/transcript_09_10_00.txt|title=Who bombed Omagh? (Panorama transcript)|publisher=BBC|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/Isquothey-took-away-a-lot-of-good-lives-that-dayrsquot-13935559.html|title=They took away a lot of good lives that day|work=Belfast Telegraph|date=10 August 2008|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Tyrone County Hospital - geograph.org.uk - 64558.jpg|thumb|right|Tyrone County Hospital, where many of the bomb victims were taken]]

BBC News said that survivors described scenes of "utter carnage," with the dead and dying "strewn across the street and other victims screaming for help".<ref name="BBC" /> The injured were initially taken to two local hospitals, the [[Tyrone County Hospital]] and the Erne Hospital.<ref name="CAIN" /> A local leisure centre was set up as a casualty field centre, and the [[British Army]]'s [[St Lucia Barracks, Omagh|Lisanelly Barracks]] served as a makeshift [[morgue]].<ref name="CAIN" /><ref name="Guardian" /> According to the [[Conflict Archive on the Internet]], rescue workers likened the scene to "battlefield conditions".<ref name="CAIN" /> Tyrone County Hospital became overwhelmed, and appealed for local doctors to come in to help.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="Guardian" />

Because of the stretched emergency services, buses, cars and helicopters were used to take the victims to other hospitals in Northern Ireland,<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="Guardian" /> including the [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast|Royal Victoria Hospital]] in Belfast and [[Altnagelvin Hospital]] in [[Derry]].<ref name="CAIN" /> A Tyrone County Hospital spokesman stated that they treated 108 casualties, 44 of whom had to be transferred to other hospitals.<ref name="Guardian" /> Paul McCormick of the [[Northern Ireland Ambulance Service]] said, "The injuries are horrific, from amputees, to severe head injuries to serious burns, and among them are women and children."<ref name="BBC" /> The morning after the bombing, a man was killed when his car collided with an ambulance ferrying bomb victims to hospitals in Belfast.<ref name="CAIN" />

Omagh Leisure Centre was used as a base for relatives and friends of the victims. There they could receive news updates.<ref name="CAIN" /> Twenty-nine people were killed, eighteen [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]]s (including two Spaniards), ten [[Protestantism|Protestant]]s and one [[Mormonism|Mormon]].<ref name="dead" /><ref>"A decade later, silence in Omagh: On Friday, a silence will mark 10 years since the Omagh bombing, a crime for which no one has yet been convicted." By Dan Keenan, ''The Irish Times'', published Sat, Aug 9, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2021. www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/a-decade-later-silence-in-omagh-1.928248%3fmode=amp.</ref> The last victim to die, Seán McGrath, was in critical condition in hospital for three weeks before dying from his injuries on 5 September.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/omagh/dead.htm|title=The Omagh Bomb – List of Those Killed|publisher=University of Ulster|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref>