'There was a blinding flash, the earth shook. Then I saw the rivers

They hoped for the best, but prepared for the worst. They got the worst.

And when it came, they still weren't ready. Because nothing can prepare you for the carnage, the mayhem, the blood and the sheer horror of a terrorist bomb blast.

In Britain, we know that only too well. But in America, the city of Atlanta was still in a state of shock last night after their Olympic dream was blown to bits.

Two people died and up to 200 were injured when a pipe bomb packed with nails and metal fragments exploded at a rock concert.

Eyewitness Terry Tyson said: "I thought it was fireworks, like a big boom, and I saw three guys lying in the street with leg injuries. Blood was running down the street. It was horrible.""

Desmond Edmonds, a teacher from London, said: "There was a blinding flash and I felt the ground shake.

"I think one lady was definitely dead. She wasn't moving. Some people looked really messed up. There were rivers of blood."

The dead were Turkish TV cameraman Melih Uzunyol, 40, who had a heart attack rushing to the scene, and Alice Hawthorn, 44, from Albany, Georgia.

Ms Hawthorn's 14-year-old daughter was also seriously injured in the blast and was in hospital last night unaware that her mother was dead.

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A 53-year-old Briton was among the more seriously injured, and one victim is critical after emergency surgery to remove large pieces of shrapnel from his chest and abdomen.

The blast came at 1.25 am local time as revellers thronged the Centennial Park, right at the heart of the giant party taking place side by side with the Olympics. There was a telephoned warning 30 minutes earlier.

The bomb was in a nylon bag placed next to a sound mixing tower as a rock band - by cruel irony Jack Mack and the Heart Attack - played to thousands of youngsters.

Mark Smith, the band's sound man, said: "The bomb was spotted by Richard, our security guard. He did a great job. He found the package by the tower and told the police, who immediately started clearing the area.

"I was 50 feet away when it exploded. I saw the cop get hit in front of me.

"He took a huge piece of shrapnel. He was about 30 feet away and was the closest to the explosion - he got hit bad.

"We put a towel on his head and I poured some water on the towel to wash the blood away."He was face down and not moving.""

Briton Anthony Long said he thought the explosion had been part of the act. He said: "I was 50 feet behind and heard it go off. At first there was no panic at all. Then people realised what it was.

"By that time I was near the front. I saw the people on the floor with superficial wounds and cuts, which obviously I thought at first were from glass. I didn't think it was from a bomb.

"I don't think anyone realised what was going on until the actual explosion happened. The band just stopped playing. They looked shocked - they looked around, they walked about and then they just went off the stage."

Eye witness Jim Slave said: "There was shrapnel flying about and people started running around screaming 'it's a bomb, it's a bomb'."

Swimmer Karen Pickering revealed that the British swim team left the concert minutes before the blast.

"Right now gold medals seem really unimportant,"" she said.

American swimmer Janet Evans was next to the stage being interviewed live by German TV when the bomb went off. Later, still shaking, she said: "There was this bang over my shoulder - and my heart stopped.

"Everything became a blur although I remember being dragged out by a security guard. I'm scared to death and my heart is still beating very fast."

Jennifer Ellis, a volunteer at the swimming venue, said: "People starting running and screaming. Police were herding everyone out, shouting: 'Get out, get out'.

"People who could walk were being walked out, but there were clumps of people lying on the ground."

The faces of witnesses were etched with shock. Michael Elman, a soccer coach from Orange County, California, spent a harrowing hour tending to the wounded strewn across the park. "It was real team work,"' he said.

For hours after the blast police helicopters with high-powered spotlights scoured the area around the park as ambulances continued to leave the scene taking the casualties to hospital.

Dr Bill Anderson, of Atlanta's Grady Trauma Centre, where most of the victims were taken, said: "We are just working on the injuries and removing pieces of shrapnel."

At the Georgia Baptist Hospital, a spokeswoman said about 45 of the walking wounded"were being treated for cuts to arms and legs.

She said: "Most of them are just coming in with looks of disbelief, as if they cannot believe what has happened to them".

At the park, behind a tight security cordon manned by hundreds of police, FBI agents and forensic teams sifted the debris for clues.

The blast was captured on amateur video, and last night FBI agents appealed for camcorder enthusiasts to come forward with their films in the hope that someone has inadvertently trapped the terrorist.

As daylight dawned over a shocked Atlanta yesterday, the full horror of the night before was highlighted by streams of dried blood on a paved area of the park.

Nearby in a bundle was the sheet used to cover the body of the victim who was killed outright. The mixing tower was shattered at the bottom with tattered covers flapping in the light breeze.

And with the dawn came the grim reality that the city had always dreaded, but hoped would never happen.

As it did in Mexico City, as it did in Munich - in Atlanta, the Olympic dream died a little more.

Copyright 1996 MGN LTD
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