‘Everything I had done… the bomb took it away from me’

A SURVIVOR who lost an eye in the Teebane crossroads bombing 30 years ago this week has spoken out about how the ‘forgotten’ IRA attack “changed his life completely”.

Harry King (69), originally from Newtownstewart but now living in Omagh, was a front seat passenger in the minibus filled with 14 civilian workers blown up by a roadside bomb planted by the IRA on the road between Omagh and Cookstown on January 17, 1992.

While eight of his colleagues were killed, Harry and five others survived. But the lorry driver, who was 39 at the time, suffered horrendous injuries in the blast that have taken a heavy toll over the next three decades. The vehicle he was travelling in, which was returning from Lisanelly army barracks in Omagh, had been targeted because the men’s firm carried out work for the security forces.

On Sunday, Harry was among survivors and relatives of the victims who gathered once again at the crossroads for a poignant memorial service on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the attack.

Speaking to the UH in the days after the event, he admitted that the occasion had been “very emotional” for him but that it had been important to come back to the scene and remember his friends and colleagues.

Harry had only been working on the site in Omagh for two or three weeks before the attack on the minibus. Despite the passing of 30 years, his memories of the fateful evening remain vivid.

He said, “I can remember driving along the road… the next thing, just a bang and something hitting me when I lost the eye. I was sitting in the front and it felt like it dropped, but that was probably the blast hitting the back of the van.

“I was the only one left in the wreckage. It probably only lasted seconds, but it felt like I was sliding down for eternity.”

A workmate who was driving in a car behind the minibus stopped and managed to get him out of the wreckage.

As well as losing an eye, Harry’s right hand was badly damaged, his ribs were cracked and his shoulder was bruised and twisted. He still suffers from back pain to this day.

Taken immediately to Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh for treatment, he was then transferred to Altnagelvin Hospital.

During surgery, Harry went into shock under anaesthetic. His heart stopped beating briefly on the operating table and, as he tells it, he had to be “jump-started” by the surgeons. The stricken lorry driver then spent ten days on a ventilator before coming round. In all, he was hospitalised for around four or five weeks.

But there were also mental scars that needed to be healed. Although he received counselling, Harry admitted, “It was a long way back.”

While he has lived by the mentality that you have to “get up and get on” and didn’t think the bomb had changed him, those closest to him could see a difference.

The loss of his eye meant he no longer got the same pleasure from favoured pastimes like playing pool or clay pigeon shooting. More seriously, he lost his job when his lorry driving licence was taken away and, eventually, the various pressures contributed to the breakdown of his marriage. Harry said, “It just changed my life completely. Everything I had done, the bomb took it away from me.”

Thirty years later, the survivor feels like Teebane has been brushed under the carpet. No-one has ever been convicted in connection with the attack. He said, “Atrocities like Teebane or Kingsmill are never mentioned. This makes you feel like you’re forgotten about.”

With the anniversary coming amid growing opposition to British government proposals for an amnesty for Troubles-related killings, Harry added, “I’m totally against it. It’s highly unlikely, but the police might turn up some wee scrap of evidence that could get a conviction.”