THE IRISH mother and son injured in the Spanish airport bomb blast told yesterday how they each thought the other was dead for up to 12 hours afterwards because they were taken to different hospitals.
Ten year old Tom O'Mahony, from Dublin, told of the trauma he suffered while lying in hospital unable to feel his leg and thinking his mother had been killed.
Tom, who is now off the critical list, said: "I thought my mum was dead, especially when I was brought to a hospital on my own. It was awful. Nobody there spoke English. I couldn't feel my leg or anything. I felt terribly alone."
After his emotional reunion with his mother, Una (Winnifred) O'Mahony, on Sunday afternoon, he said: "I was really happy when I saw her again. It was the most beautiful sight in the world."
Recalling the destruction caused at the airport, he added: "I didn't think people could be so cruel."
Tom, who has a drip feeding into his arm, said: "When the bomb went off I thought it was like a dream. I was looking everywhere for my mum. I was dragging my injured leg around and then four people dragged me and brought me outside.
"I looked at my leg and saw it gushing blood and I looked around for where my mum was, and I couldn't see her. I feared she had been killed."
Tom, who suffered a broken leg, was also struck in the face by pieces of plaster which were blown off the walls.
He is now sharing a room with his mother, who also suffered a leg injury, in the St Joan Hospital in Reus. Beside his bed is a jar containing three lumps of shrapnel which were removed from his leg.
Tom's mother said she saw him lying on the ground as she was stretchered out of the smoke filled airport, but the ambulance crew could not understand her cries. "The ambulance drove away and I did not know if my son was dead or alive."
Describing the explosion from her hospital bed, Mrs O'Mahony (46) said: "It was as if a tank drove through the wall spraying fire. I could smell burning and it was my flesh.
"When the bomb went off I was thrown through the air. All I could see was smoke. I was passing the gents' toilet with Tom at my side and I was blown away. The noise was deafening.
"There were clouds of dust everywhere. I felt I was floating to the right. I caught it on both arms. I saw my bag thrown from my arm and it went flying through the air. I tried to grab Tom because, with him being lighter I knew he would be flung".
But the two were separated by the blast and Mrs O'Mahony was left trying to search the chaotic interior of the airport, having suffered a crippling leg injury. "I was trying to find Tom. Everywhere there was dense smoke and debris. I was dragging myself around, trying to find him.
"A man dragged me outside by my arm. I was screaming for Tom, but nobody understood me. I was put in an ambulance and a man in uniform was trying to hold me down and he threw a tracksuit top over my leg.
"I saw a child lying on the other side of the room. His clothing looked like Tom's. All the time I was screaming for Tom and wanted to get to him. I said `That is my son', but they couldn't stop."
Mrs O'Mahony, who has now been joined by her husband, Thomas (50), underwent three hours of surgery on her leg, then spent the rest of the night wondering whether Tom was alive.
She said: "I did not know where Tom was. The police, the doctors, the nurses - they did not know. All I was thinking was `Is he dead and do they not want to tell me?' All the time Tom was thinking the same thing."
Mrs O'Mahony, who was taken to Santa Tecla Hospital in Tarragona, eventually found out her son had been taken to the St Joan Hospital in Reus. She said: "They found out the next day where Tom was, but they didn't tell me what his injuries were. I tried to drag facts out of them, asking them if he had all his limbs."
She was transferred to the same hospital as Tom on Sunday afternoon. "They told me just before I left that he had a broken leg. I thought they were covering up. When I got here he was in the intensive care unit with a crushed femur.
"Tom thought I was dead. I thought he was dead. It was a tremendous relief when we were reunited."
Mrs O'Mahony and Tom had intended to spend two weeks on the Cost a Dorada, but after several days in the stifling heat of Salou they decided to return home via London.
Mrs O'Mahony, who spent many childhood holidays in Belfast without ever witnessing a bombing, said that she was furious about the way the Spanish authorities - who were thought to have received an early warning - had dealt with the incident.
She said: "If they did get a warning, it is outrageous that they allowed us to check in our suitcases. A one or two minute warning would have been enough to have got everyone out of the airport."
Her husband, who arrived in Reus yesterday, said: "I just couldn't believe such a thing could happen. I was at home in Ireland and saw it on TV. I never thought my own family could be involved, because they weren't supposed to come home for another week."