THE sister of a young Spanish woman killed in the Omagh bombing has described a public inquiry into the atrocity as “allowing us to close a wound that has been open for 26 years”.
Rocio Abad Ramos, 23, from Madrid was among 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, who were killed in the dissident republican bomb attack in the Co Tyrone town in 1998.
She had been involved in an exchange trip with young Spanish children to Buncrana in Co Donegal.
They had been visiting Omagh on August 15 when the bomb exploded.
Her sister Paloma Abad Ramos gave evidence to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry on Tuesday as it started commemorative hearings focusing on the victims and those affected.
Speaking through a translator, Ms Ramos also told the inquiry she hoped it will uncover the truth of what happened, saying she felt the news in Spain at the time had been “restricted”.
She thanked those behind the inquiry, saying: “This is the only support that we’ve had for many many years.”
She also expressed gratitude for all the letters her family had received from people in Ireland following her sister’s death.
In her statement to the inquiry she said when her parents left her sister at the airport, she was so excited to be going on the trip, and having just finished her studies she had a world of possibilities ahead of her.
She said: “As our parents hugged and said goodbye to Rocio, little did they know that was to be the last time they would see their daughter alive.”
Asked about that during the hearing, Ms Ramos said: “I was thinking it would be very, very difficult to walk along the street where the bomb had exploded, well this happened to us at the airport, the airport was the last place we saw Rocio alive.”
Back in August 1998, she arrived home from a holiday to learn what had happened to her sister, and followed her parents to Belfast, on a military plane with the families of other Spanish citizens who lost their lives or were injured.
She told the inquiry: “Imagine a military plane with no seats, seated on a net with 20 more people, family members of wounded and victims, it was a very tense situation.”
She paid tribute to being sheltered from seeing the bomb scene. She also told the inquiry she wanted to thank those who recovered her sister’s remains, describing going to the morgue as a “moment I will never forget in my life”.
They returned to Madrid on a military plane, with two coffins, Rocio’s, as well as that of 12-year-old Fernando Blasco Baselga who was also killed in the bomb.
She described hugging her sister’s coffin on the flight back.
On their return to Madrid, the two coffins were covered with Spanish flags and given a military parade, and later a state funeral which she compared to a Champions League final with crowds of people in attendance, including the King’s daughter.
She said: “I was in shock, just three days before we learned that our sister had been killed in a terrorist bombing in Ireland, it was mind-blowing and we were not able to cope with this.
“We were directed to (the) funeral parlour, it was like the final of the Champions League because there were so, so many people, our grief was made public … we were not left in peace.”
Ms Ramos summed her sister up as an extrovert, and a “very special person” who had a love of Ireland.
She added: “She had a family here, she loved Irish and the culture and the country.”
A focus on the victims and impact of the Omagh bombing will have “important value” in educating others about the “real effect of terrorism”, the public inquiry chairman has said.
Bereaved families and survivors gathered at the Strule Arts Centre in the Co Tyrone town for the inquiry which will examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by UK authorities.
Some 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins were killed in the Real IRA bomb attack in the Co Tyrone town on August 15, 1998.
The names of all those killed in the bombing were read out at the public inquiry into the atrocity on Tuesday morning before all those assembled were invited to stand for a minute’s silence in remembrance.
Commemorative and personal statement hearings will be heard over the next four weeks.
ROSANNA Davison has revealed her latest hair transformation with an amazing “before and after” compilation.
The former Miss World is renowned for her luscious blonde locks and today she gave fans an exclusive look inside her extensive hair regime.
Rosanna took to Instagram to share the process of removing her lengthy extensions.
The 40-year-old showed off her natural, darker toned hair colour and even captured a snap of the her original hair length.
The Dublin beauty looked happy as ever as she sat in a hairdressers and posed with her brand new platinum blonde locks.
The mum-of-three wrote in her caption: “All done. New set of @goldfeverhair.”
Rosanna then explained how her previous hair extensions had been taken out the day before and she was given a full head of bright blonde highlights.
Her hairstylist then dyed her extensions to match the shade she had used and fitted the first layer to her head.
This morning, Rosanna returned to the hair salon to get the final few layers of her extensions fitted – as she emphasised it was an extremely “long process”.
The beauty queen then shared the incredible “before and after” results to her page.
The first picture showed Rosanna’s natural dark blonde hair, with a brunette root.
Her hair texture was much thinner without the extensions and her ends had a strawberry blonde colour.
After her hair stylist was finished revamping her locks the results were fabulous.
Rosanna’s hair was now extra voluminous with increased length and a gorgeous platinum blonde shine.
Her hair was also immaculately curled and styled to perfection.
But it’s not all glamour and beauty in the Davison household.
Last week, Rosanna shared the honest reality of “mum life” with a hilarious post about the aftermath of lunchtime with toddlers.
The TV star has three kids under the age of four and has always been open about her struggles with motherhood.
Rosanna took to social media to share a snippet of herself discovering a piece of her toddler’s food in her bra.
The Irish star humorously captioned the post: “Mum life: finding a bit of biscuit in your bra and eating it anyways.”
In the short clip, the model could be seen walking down her hallway at home while scrolling through social media.
The doting mum then stopped dead in her tracks and gave a confused look as she began to pat her chest.
She then reached into her top and pulled out a piece of biscuit which had fallen in there.
The Dublin native hilariously stared at the food before shrugging her shoulders and throwing it into her mouth.
Rosanna jokingly confessed: “Bits of cracker and toast have been found in my bra, bed and even in the shower.”
