Three children from Buncrana, a Spanish exchange student and an exchange leader staying in the Co Donegal town were among those killed by the Omagh bomb. A further 13 Spanish exchange students were injured.
The dead were named yesterday as Sean McLaughlin (11), Oran Doherty (8) from Knockala in Buncrana, James Barker (12) from Porthaw, Fernando Brasco Bacelga (11) from Madrid, and exchange programme leader, Rocia Abad Ramos (29), also from Madrid.
The Buncrana boys who died were the sons of families which had been hosting Spanish pupils in the town.
There were 33 Spanish schoolchildren and 10 locals in the group which left Buncrana on Saturday for a daytrip to Omagh. They visited the folk park near Omagh and decided to travel into the town to do some shopping before returning home. "The folk park trip had been planned well in advance but the shopping was a last-minute decision," a garda in Buncrana said yesterday.
Two Buncrana children, Ronan McGrory (13) and Emmet McLaughlin (8), were among those seriously injured. Ronan was in intensive care suffering from internal bleeding and Emmet had already undergone surgery. A sister of Ferdinand Blasco Bacelga, Donna Marie, who had been staying with the Barker family, was undergoing plastic surgery having sustained horrific facial injuries. Unconfirmed reports said it was thought one Spanish student was still unaccounted for. The Spanish foreign ministry said yesterday it had put a Hercules military transport plane at the disposal of the parents of bomb victims, allowing them to bring home the injured children as well as the bodies of the two exchange programme participants killed. The aircraft was due in Belfast last night.
Spanish foreign minister, Mr Abel Matutes, and Vice-President, Mr Fransisco Alvarez Cascos, were preparing to go to Omagh to offer condolences. Thousands of Spanish students are sent to Ireland on language courses every summer, and yesterday, Spanish television and radio news broadcasts were repeating an emergency number for anxious relatives.
Twenty-one of the group of 43 who travelled to Omagh returned to Buncrana on Saturday after 9 p.m. by minibus and car.
Families who had been hosting the exchange students went to Altnagalvin hospital in Derry and other hospitals trying to trace the missing children. "We got a call to say that three local children and three Spanish children were missing," said Father Shane Bradley, curate in Buncrana.
"When we went to Omagh we waited for a number of hours as members of the RUC asked for details on what the missing children were wearing. It was a very harrowing time. The fathers of two of the dead local children and the parents of James Barker met us at the Leisure Centre in Omagh. It was chaotic, people were crying. When we and the parents and leaders went to identify the dead children it was like walking along Death Row," he said.
The Duke family from Buncrana were yesterday on their way to the Royal Victoria Hospital where Marta (9), a student staying with them, required surgery and consent papers had to be signed. Many of the Spanish parents first heard their children were caught up in the blast when they saw reports on Sky News.
Buncrana has been hosting exchange students from Madrid for the past 10 years and many returned year after year. One of the children on the bus trip to Omagh, Latish Robinson (14) from Inch Island, rang home to tell her mother there was a bomb scare in Omagh. Thinking it was a hoax, her mother told her not to worry. Her friend, Claire Hegarty (11), was on the phone to her mother when the bomb went off. Both girls were able to tell their parents they were alright. The driver of the bus, Liam McGonagle, was too devastated to speak to anyone yesterday. He could not leave his home he was so badly shaken. He had spent most of Saturday night searching for the missing children.
Latish Robinson, still in a shocked state, said: "We were for walking up the town when the bus left us off in the car park. The police were at the courthouse end of the street and they chased us up the street. We went and stood outside our bus.
"When the bomb went off it felt like the air moving underneath us. There were ambulances coming in threes and taxis and buses with hazard warning lights flashing were taking hurt people to hospitals. The bus driver told us to go and stand behind the statue. A policeman and lady came along and took our names and where we were from.
"We had to say the names of people who had been with us. We had been with the boys who were killed and they went the opposite direction to us. They were standing near to the car that exploded. The police then told us to go to the Leisure Centre and we waited outside for what seemed like ages, then Sinead McLaughlin, one of the Buncrana organisers, and the bus driver came," Latish said.
Returning to Buncrana from Omagh yesterday morning, Father Joseph Carolan said: "It was the slaughter of the innocents. There is no justification for what these people did. It was a carnival of peace going on in Omagh and people were out shopping. An act of unmitigated evil is the only way I can describe it."