The Omagh inquest heard further evidence from police officers about their actions before and after the blast.
Constable Louise Stewart told the court that as she arrived at the scene a woman lay with her arm on fire. Using the sleeve of her fire-retardant suit, she patted out the flames.
All around her, "there was pandemonium, bodies everywhere. People kept coming up and asking for help in finding people. I saw children lying dead on the street."
She added: "I saw people who had parts of their bodies missing. I felt completely helpless. I remember the dreadful smell of burning flesh and blood. Also there was water gushing down the street over the bodies, as a water main had burst."
Constable Stewart told of how she had then gone to Lisanelly army barracks in Omagh to help set up a temporary mortuary in the gym and described the minutiae of handling the dead .
She and her colleagues took details of each body as it arrived, took it to a prearranged mat and noted down any information they could. This included measuring them, noting physical descriptions and removing any possessions such as jewellery that might help to identify the dead person.
By the time she left at 10.30 that night, Constable Stewart said 26 bodies had been documented. She agreed with the coroner, Mr John Leckey, that her task was "both very difficult and extremely unpleasant".
In her deposition, Constable Stewart said she thought her unit had been told of the bomb warning around 2.30 p.m. and that they had been told verbally the bomb was due to explode in 10 minutes. Both were only guesses based on her memory of the events, she told the coroner.
Constable John Wells also attended the mortuary after assuming custody of three of the bodies and accompanying them to the army base and staying with them during the documentation process until relieved.
Reserve Constable David Ogle told of how after arriving at the scene he was called to by a man bent over a young boy. The man told him that the boy, who Constable Ogle identified as James Barker (12) was "fading. I though I detected a small pulse," Constable Ogle said.
Constable Ogle carried the boy to a car but the driver said she was too distressed to drive and a passer-by had to take the wheel and bring the injured boy to the hospital. Constable Ogle said the boy was still alive when he left him but the inquest heard he died in hospital.
Sgt Wesley McCracken said that as he approached the scene of the explosion, he was met by a woman and two children who "were screaming that the police had driven them into the bomb".
The street was littered with car parts, tiles and broken glass, he said. "I had never seen anything like it."
Sgt McCracken said he checked a casualty who appeared dead but was actually unconscious. "I began to shout at him to live, told him my name and asked him his, I did not want him to die." A priest came over to him and began blessing the man. "I told him to go away, he was going to live," he said. Sgt McCracken said he believed the man had lived.