JUST over six months ago former Preston Citizen reporter Chris Kershaw visited the Northern Ireland town of Omagh, scene of the worst atrocity in the country's troubled history.

He spoke to a Preston girl who was caught up in the bomb blast which claimed 28 lives.

This week he talked to 14-year-old former Penwortham schoolgirl Kelly Hambleton who witnesses the atrocity on August 15.

Kelly, whose mother Cath Thompson is a senior administrator in Omagh's Adult Study Centre, was shopping with teenage pals Nadia, Laura, from Colne, and Natasha, when the police began to move people away from Omagh Court House, where the bomb was believed to have been planted.

The girls congregated close to an archway - just three shops up from where the bomb exploded just minutes later.

Kelly said: "A flash of light lit up the sky, the atmosphere changed and there was a tremendous noise.

"Dust and smoke was blinding and choking us and I pulled myself and Laura to the ground. But all we could see was fire. "Glass from shop windows had shattered onto our backs and we were in pain."

She added: "I picked myself up and walked towards the police, trying to avoid looking at the injured and deceased. After a short walk I found Natasha and began to realise what had happened. There was blood on my face, but it wasn't my own.

"When I returned home, to the barracks of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, my mum took me to the medical centre. My friends were there and we all became very emotional.

"I know I will never forget this day of carnage and terror - the cries, screams and blood of the dead and injured."

Her mum Cath Thompson said: "My husband and I find it incomprehensible how close they both must have been to severe physical wounding or tragic death. Yet they escaped with just minor injuries."

"We are praying that they have not sustained any long-term psychological damage."

...One thing is for sure now. Omagh will never be the same again.

But from what I witnessed there I can say that the public in the traumatised town will not let the bombers win in the end.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.