A survivor of the 1998 Omagh bombing has told how he tried to save the life of one of the youngest victims of the atrocity despite his own serious injuries.
The chair of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry, Lord Turnbull, praised the bravery and heroism of Garry McGillion, saying “even though you yourself sustained severe burns and other very serious injuries ... you had the clarity of thought and the determination to do what was necessary to try and save the life of one of the most vulnerable victims”.
Giving evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday, Mr McGillion said he and his fiancee, Donna Marie, had been due to get married the week after the bombing, and had gone into Omagh that day along with his sister, Tracy Devine, to buy shoes for her 20-month-old daughter Breda, who was to be a flower girl at her uncle’s wedding.
Breda Devine was among 31 people, including unborn twins, who were killed when the dissident republican bomb exploded in the centre of the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998.
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The inquiry, which is taking place in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh, has already heard pen portraits of the victims and is currently hearing evidence from people who were injured in, or witnessed the Real IRA explosion and its aftermath.
Mr McGillion told the inquiry that until the explosion, August 15th had been a happy day with “a real party atmosphere”, with lots of people in Omagh coming up to them to congratulate them about their forthcoming wedding.
They had been in the shoe shop getting Breda’s feet measured when they became aware of the bomb warning, and followed the instructions of police to evacuate towards the lower end of Market Street.
“Donna Marie had been pushing Breda in the pushchair ... I stepped in between the car on to the footpath and there was just a massive electric shock.
“When it had happened, and I got myself back on to my feet again, it was as if somebody was turning the radio up. It started nothing, then went to a dull sound, then I could hear alarms going off, then it went to full blast, I could hear children shouting for their mums, mums shouting for their children.”
Mr McGillion’s shirt was on fire, and he had a wound to the back of his head, “but I didn’t realise the extent, didn’t realise how bad it was. My main priority ... was with Donna Marie and Breda and Tracy, I had to find them.”
He found Donna Marie with a shop sign on top of her, but was unable to lift it; he saw her hand move, still holding on to Breda’s pram.
“I went again the second time, and I don’t know how I managed it, but I moved the sign ... I was able to grab Donna Marie by the belt and pull her out, and I grabbed the pushchair as well at the same time, I pulled Breda out.
“My main priority was to give Breda help, I took her over to Tracy, told her I had her, I’ve got her, I’ll look after her.”
He ran with her in his arms to the top of the town, where he handed her over to a traffic warden who took her to hospital.
Holding her, Mr McGillion said, he could feel “the faintest little heartbeat, I knew I had to get her out, and to this day, I still feel that heartbeat.”
Mr McGillion was seriously injured, and suffered third-degree burns over more than a third of the right side of his body and head, as well as extensive shrapnel injuries and other wounds.
Donna Marie and his sister Tracy were also badly hurt.
When he learned his niece Breda had died, he felt “like somebody ripped part of my heart out. That part is still missing today.”
Mr McGillion and Donna Marie set another date for their wedding while they were still in hospital; when they married in March 1999, crowds of people from Omagh went to the church to support them.
They kept their wedding preparations exactly the same, Mr McGillion said. “The only thing that changed was that one person was missing.”
The inquiry continues.
