The inquiry hearing is now taking a short break.

Lord Turnbull says the statements from Valerie Hamilton and Edel Doherty were "vivid accounts from two different perspectives".

He said they gave him "an insight of the place of the explosion and what was going on around the place of the bombing and the hospital that day".

Valerie Hamilton was able to give an account of "ongoing challenges of her recovery over many years", he says, adding that it showed him how it impacted her family circumstances.

He says Edel Doherty showed him the account of someone nearby who provided care and assistance at the scene of destruction.

Lord Turnbull says this was an important account this showed bravery to provide assistance this has had a lifelong effect on her.

He says the impact of the bombing has had a lifelong effect on not only people who were killed or physically affected, that the bomb goes much wider than that.

"I am grateful to both ladies for their statements," he concluded.

Ms Doherty says she returned to work not knowing who would be there as the death toll increased.

She says she cried herself to sleep each night, and struggled daily for years.

"I carry all the images in my mind like they were yesterday," she says.

She says the trial was hard to listen, as she "relived" each detail.

Ms Doherty adds that bomb scares after the Omagh bombing scared her, and she felt unsafe.

She says there are constant triggers and she has "survivors guilt".

Ms Doherty says she has attended therapy over the years but "my life has changed".

"I will never be the person that I was," she adds.

Due to her mental and physical health deteriorating, she had to give up her job.

Ms Doherty says there was a "horrible smell" and alarms going off in premises.

She says it felt "unreal" as there was smoke everywhere and glass falling out of windows, "it felt eerie".

"I just knew without being told that death was evident," she says.

She says she noticed a young boy lying on the road, his eyes were open, he was not talking, she says his injuries were beyond her capabilities.

Ms Doherty says they used a door nearby as a stretcher, she says she knew the boy was still alive, she then place him in a police land rover.

She says she then went to search for her family member.

"Body parts, pieces of flesh, broken bodies and water and blood gushing down the street. Casualties with clothes blown off them, the walking wounded wandering around like zombies," she says.

Ms Doherty says she felt sick and nervous at not knowing what she would see next.

She says she doesn't remember the walk back to the car as she tried to make her way to the hospital to find her family member.

On her way she came across and treated a man with a open head wound, and got him assistance to the hospital.

She says she doesn't remember the drive to the hospital, and couldn't find her family member inside before she realised there was "nothing else she could do".

Later in the evening when she returned home she heard her family member was safe.

As she watched the news she "felt numb".

A lawyer is now reading out the statement of Edel Doherty.

Ms Doherty was shopping with her family when she was made aware of the bomb scare.

"I just left Wellworths and we were walking back in to the town," she says, when she "heard a loud bang and black smoke".

"I knew it was a bomb."

Ms Doherty says she started to try to help others.

"A policeman asked me did I have any first aid training," she says.

Ms Doherty went into Boots to grab products that would absorb blood, such as nappies.

"It was chaos with people screaming and crying, ash was covering their faces."

Ms Doherty says the area was filled with smoke.

Ms Hamilton says she is wary when in crowds as she needs to know if she has an "escape route".

Ms Hamilton adds that she has a "constant fear of dying".

"I have myself worked up to a point of panic," she says.

She adds that her left eye has reduced vision and fears possible eye loss, she says she also has to wear hearing aids in both ears and suffers from tinnitus.

She says she takes medication to deal with anxiety because what she saw that day "can never be unseen".

"I relive that day everyday," she adds.

Ms Hamilton says when she recovered from a second operation she didn't want to leave the house as it was the only place she felt "safe".

"For about five years I sat in the house not wanting to do anything, I felt angry and frustrated," she says.

As a result of this Ms Hamilton says there was a strain on her marriage as they began to "struggle for money" as she did not work.

She says she had "no choice" but to return to working full time.

Ms Hamilton talks about her experience in hospital after the bomb had exploded.

She says heard her sister in law shout her name and she was taken to A&E.

She says "must have been unconscious" at the hospital and when she woke up she saw her parents crying.

Her parents assured her that her daughter was safe.

She got moved to Altnagelvin hospital in Londonderry. She was told that if she had been closer to the bomb she could have lost her eye.

A lawyer is now reading out the statement of Valerie Hamilton.

She says she was working that Saturday, and her colleague had just went out for lunch so she was on her own.

A police officer came in and told her there was a bomb scare at the courthouse and they needed to evacuate.

She says she took the money from the till and closed the shop.

She says she went to look for her colleague but "couldn't see her".

"There was a flash and an immense heat, I put my hands up to my head and I shouted 'no', the bomb had exploded," she says.

Ms Hamilton says the next thing she knew she was sitting on the pavement in the foetal position, with "my hands still up at the side of my head".

She says she doesn't remember getting there but when she woke up all she smelt was the smoke and could see the debris everywhere, with a "burnt out" car in front of her.

Ms Hamilton says she couldn't see anything to her left, but to her right there was debris and a girl standing in the middle of the road.

She says she "knew it was bad" but she doesn't remember how long she sat there for.

Rt Hon Lord Turnbull thanks Mr Ferguson and says "no one would be able to picture or imagine such events had they not been there or heard from someone who was".

He says Mr Ferguson's actions were "most commendable" and the people of Omagh that day "have much to be grateful to you for".

Mr Ferguson says he can't remember what time he went home that evening.

"I felt so thankful to be home, a lot of people went to town that day and never came home," he says.

After a while Mr Ferguson says as a family business they "had to get organised".

Their shop was behind a cordon and they got a container to get "things up at running".

He says this is when his depression started and "he's been fighting it ever since".

Mr Ferguson says he has perforated eardrums and his hearing goes.

"I lost so many friend, colleagues, they never came back to work," he adds.

As soon as Mr Ferguson told the staff to get out of the shop, the explosion happened.

He says the rails at the back of the shop fell off the wall and the smoke alarm started.

The female staff started to panic, so Mr Ferguson took them outside to make sure they were ok, they said they were.

When he re-entered the shop he says it was a "bomb site" with windows blown out and rails of clothes on the floor.

It was after this Mr Ferguson took the female staff up the street towards the Supervalu.

Image source, Omagh Bombing Inquiry

Ian Ferguson, a survivor of the Omagh bombing, is one of the first people we are hearing from today who were injured in the Real IRA attack.

He was working in his family business on the morning of the attack.

He says the day of the Omagh bombing was the day his life changed.

"I went out to see what happened, I had two employees working for me that day. I looked up and saw people's feet running past the shop window when we heard of the bombing. We were getting prepared to leave the shop and it exploded," he said.

He recalls the engine of the car still on fire and remembers screaming and crying and lifting a woman off the ground.

He says he spent most of the day carrying people from the ground and getting towels and blankets to help people.

Hello and welcome back to BBC News NI's live coverage of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry as the third week of hearings continues.

The public inquiry was set up by the government to examine whether the 1998 explosion could have been prevented by the UK authorities.

So far, the inquiry has heard commemorations of victims of the Omagh bombing. The inquiry is now moving into a new phase and will hear from witnesses and people who were injured in the Real IRA attack.

Today we are expected to hear from:

• Ian Ferguson
• Statements of Valerie Hamilton and Edel Doherty
• Nicola Marlow
• Pauline Harte
• Rosemary Ingram

The inquiry is due to begin at 10:00 GMT.

Toni Connor

That's our live coverage finished for the day. We'll start up again tomorrow morning when the inquiry resumes at 10am. Join us then.

Today's live page was written by myself and Niall Glynn, and edited by Ciarán McCauley.

Thanks for joining us.

The commemorations of four of the victims of the Omagh bombing have now ended for the day.

Earlier, the inquiry heard:

• Veda Short was a "loving wife, mother and grandmother" who was very family-orientated and never had a bad word to say about anyone
• She met her baby grandson just a day before being killed in the Omagh Bombing
• Philomena 'Mena' Skelton was "a home bird" who dedicated her life to her husband and children and to charity work
• Her husband Kevin recalled the moment he found her face down in the rubble after the blast and his concern for his three daughters who were also in the town centre
• Lorraine Wilson, who was 15, was like "a wee mother hen" to her younger brother and loved to cook for her whole family
• Her sister Denise says she was buried in her mother's wedding dress and that the family's life changed drastically
• Julia Hughes' brother Justin says the 21-year-old was "small, but a fire burned in her heart" and as twins they "shared dreams and countless memories"
• She was studying accountancy at Dundee University when she was killed - the university awarded her degree posthumously and later named an award in her honour

Inquiry chair Lord Turnbull now sums up the testimony given by Justin Hughes.

He says the inquiry had learned about Julia Hughes' academic career and her success in her accountancy degree.

He says it is a testament to her academic ability that Dundee University awarded her a degree after her death and also named an award in her honour.

He says she was denied the opportunity to go on and live a full and rewarding career, and that is a further tragedy.

He finishes by thanking her family. With that, the inquiry's hearings for the day come to an end.

Image source, Omagh Bombing Inquiry

Justin's statement describes the close bond he shared with his sister.

"She was my twin and now I am her voice - we shared dreams, countless memories, the same friends. The loss was a huge void that can never be filled.

"I carry her with me and honoured her memory and, to this day, I still talk to her.

"The what ifs will always be there after 26 years - we cope as best we can."

He adds that their Dad missed her every day until he died in 2018 and that Julia will always be dearly remembered by all of the family members.

Justin says that on the day she died, Julia was working in a photography shop raising funds to return for her final year of university.

"Sadly it was not to be."

He says she was always very close to her mother and was the apple of her father's eye.

He adds that Julia's loss was insurmountable for the family and life was never the same again.

He says their grandmother died shortly afterwards of what could only be described as a broken heart..

Justin Hughes' statement speaks about Julia's university days in Dundee - he says it marked the first time the twins were apart.

He says she struggled initially but then started to enjoy life in Scotland: "We were apart but our bond remained strong."

He says Julia died just before her final year of accountancy but that Dundee University had her graduate in her absence a year later. Now, he adds, there is a Julia Hughes Prize at the university for someone who has overcome difficulties.

He says he presented the prize for the first time in 2023.

"This prize is a huge part of her legacy and will live on forever."