Omagh bomb - BBC Two News

Here is the news portion of the News and Sport, broadcast at 7:45 pm on Saturday 15 August 1998. The news is dominated by the massive car bomb which murdered many in Omagh, Co Tyrone; the full death toll was not yet known by this point. Presented by Moira Stuart with a brief glimpse of sports presenter Helen Rollason.
There is also news of the investigation into the 1974 sinking of MV Gaul.

[@JohnMcMahon.]

I remember that like yesterday, it was a Saturday, I was in Belfast and the Cool FM radio station interrupted its broadcast to call for all available medical staff to make their way to Omagh. "All medical staff make their way to Omagh following an explosion in the town".. I felt knots in my stomach, I knew it was bad. There had been other bomb warnings in different towns in the weeks leading up to this by the newly formed Real IRA and as per usual the area would be evacuated before it went off.... But I knew right away this was different, there had been a major fuck up.. Absolutely senseless, terrible waste of life, it was an atrocity and Im an Irish nationalist.. A number of times during the troubles I would get that knot in my stomach when I heard something really bad happened, thankfully this was the last time I remember it. Never again.

[@mandydunn6484]

I heard the blast

[@cosworthman3217]

My stepdads sister died in that bomb

[@mandydunn6484]

@@cosworthman3217 sorry for ur loss 🙏

[@johnking5174]

This was a shocking day. I remember hearing the news report on the radio and then seeing this on TV. I could not believe after the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, a few months later, this could happen. Utterly disgusting.

[@yarikokajio6]

My mother was in the Ómaigh Bomb but shes fine now , i still live in Ómaigh

[@dominewimbury2039]

Can't believe this is 20 years ago now

[@Stephen_Ross_Enniskillen]

David thanks for posting this. My thoughts of what the people of Omagh suffered, and continue to suffer are a reminder of what I experienced and that come around each wedding anniversary. A truly terrible reminder.

[@mandydunn6484]

Thank you

[@pigeon3332]

Theres something so surreal about seeing the town i grew up in, totally destroyed. People from my community and their lives and familys. Destroyed.

[@johnking5174]

This was a shocking day. I remember hearing the news report on the radio and then seeing this on TV. I could not believe after the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, a few months later, this could happen. Utterly disgusting.

[@GiordanDiodato]

it wasn't by the original IRA, known as the "Provisional IRA." It was by a more extreme splinter group called the Real IRA.

[@johnking5174]

@@GiordanDiodato I never mentioned the IRA in my above sentence from last year.

[@ryanOGab]

@@GiordanDiodato Splinter group” And the name of the actual group Might be a clue. They were members of the original PIRA who disagreed with the agreement and the rest of their group's peaceful means, so formed their own “New” group so yes they were members of the PIRA who formed the RIRA.Different shades of the same shit.

[@mrhammadmossop1988ul-haq]

00:00 If you put your volume up you can hear the director in London counting down to the national news.

[@johnking5174]

This was a shocking day. I remember hearing the news report on the radio and then seeing this on TV. I could not believe after the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, a few months later, this could happen. Utterly disgusting.

[@mrhammadmossop1988ul-haq]

@@johnking5174 It's pretty shocking when things like this happen

[@johnking5174]

@@mrhammadmossop1988ul-haq It was totally shocking

[@mrhammadmossop1988ul-haq]

@@johnking5174 Can you hear the network director in London counting down at 00:00

[@yarikokajio6]

London is in Britain , is that what u mean😂

[@richardmulcahy9919]

RIP Helen 1956-1999

[@davidlin2974]

0:00 there's a very small voice counting down

[@BossySwan]

Moira Stuart

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

20 Years Ago Today.

[@oranjelibertine]

I remember this was doing GCSE coursework

[@12shankley]

Utter insanity, how anyone can think that killing their own people is a way to lead to a peaceful Ireland is beyond my comprehension, it was bad enough killing innocent English children, but this, any more words fail me.

[@GiordanDiodato]

from what I've heard, the shopping center wasn't their original target.

[@ryanOGab]

@@GiordanDiodato because a bomb anywhere is a good idea. What a f***ing tit you are.

[@jacksugden8190]

Pretty chilling those IRA bombings.

[@Northiree]

Jack Sugden yup

[@johnking5174]

This was a shocking day. I remember hearing the news report on the radio and then seeing this on TV. I could not believe after the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, a few months later, this could happen. Utterly disgusting

[@maxbower3370]

Hello David - are these videos free to use? Thanks

[@DBIVUK]

Not for me to say - I make no claim to own the copyright.

[@richardmulcahy9919]

The Late Helen Rollason

[@DuncanMcA]

When did BBC Two stop having evening bulletins?

[@DBIVUK]

The Saturday evening news bulletin on BBC Two seems to have been come and gone (frequently dropped for sports events, Glastonbury, long films etc). I think the last one was 8 January 2000.

[@DuncanMcA]

@@DBIVUK great info, thanks! And presumably this would have been the last time outside Henman matches at Wimbledon (when the 6 o clock news was moved over to BBC2) the BBC2 clock was used on the network?

[@DBIVUK]

@@DuncanMcA Pretty sure it would be - the clock was a very rare sight on BBC Two, pretty much only before scheduled news bulletins.

[@ryanOGab]

Omagh got sold out by the agreement and its council. The Omagh town council actual blocked and prevented 3 times an attempte to have one of the bombers extradited to a lithuania prison, it was independent councillor Bernice Swift who created the proposal she Then went on to shear this ” message to a former prison commander of the the Real IRA group which carried out the atrocity -. That it had worked. She herself was later arrested by the police for fraud. ironically and thankfully the irish court overruled their decision and deported him to face jail.

[@carlosbarton763]

Tragic day for all of Britain and N. Ireland. In reference to your recent video, 50fps works really well. Your uploads (especially the BBC news videos) are generally really interesting, as I was too young to remember most of the content of your videos when they happened.

[@DBIVUK]

Technically this is 59.94fps - due to technical restrictions. KZbin only accepts more than 29.97fps on high definition video (720 lines). I work on a Mac and iMovie will only do 720p60, not 720p50. Hence the test to see if it still had that fluid movement - I think a close eye could possibly tell but you'd have to be looking out for it, and the overall improvement in picture quality is clear. It's important to see the fluid motion as it's a lot closer to what you would have seen on TV at the time - however another aspect is difficult to replicate which is that everyone was still watching tube CRT TVs, so the square picture was slightly distorted. CRT TVs at this time only had a 50Hz refresh rate - I've just gone back to see what they looked like and it looks amazingly flickery compared with current flat LCD TVs. It also gives me headaches the whole day after. However did we cope.

[@katiegallagher9646]

*and Ireland

[@sitdowntwice]

And Ireland - the country that it happened in

[@09weenic]

James Wilson not the last time I checked 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@mandydunn6484]

@@sitdowntwice northern Ireland

[@carolinebyrne9392]

THE IRISH PEIPLE HAVE VOTED THESE --------------------------- ====== IN TO BOOTH PARLEMNTS I JUST HOPE AND PRAY THEY DINT GET SOME OF SIN FAIN FREEDOM

[@majellamcclenaghan859]

Where is Ronnie Flanagan now i t was a school uniform f****** day not carnival day

[@williamharper6458]

The afternoon this happened an evil spirit spoke to me. And told me that this had happened, it was dead spooky as well. It was like a voice coming out of a void or something?

[@Factology]

It’s called schizophrenia mate get that checked

[@ryanOGab]

That's a really shit Warning system you've got there. Telling you after the fact you heard the news. Tit