The Omagh Bombing Inquiry is examining whether the single worst atrocity of the Troubles could have been prevented
Twenty-nine people, including a woman expecting twins, were murdered in the Real IRA attack on 15 August 1998
This is the fourth week of hearings
He says he came across a young woman with a serious head injury being tended to.
He says he ran back to his police car and drove through the crowd to where the girl was lying.
He says he put her in the car and took her to hospital.
He says the girl later died of her injuries.
He described seeing people who were "beyond help" and "horribly mutilated" with arms and legs missing.
As he made his way down the street: "The more bodies I encountered, most lying in the street."
A water mains had burst and "a river of water was cascading down the street".
Sup Haslett recalls "high pitched guttural screams of pain and distress".
He says those injured were being tended to by members of the public and police officers.
He says some were screaming and some were lying very still and quiet.
Some he says were "horribly mutilated".
He says: "It was clear from the scene that greeted me, that a large car bomb had exploded."
"If there is a hell, and I think that there probably is, then I'm fairly certain that what I saw, heard and smelt, just at that moment must have resembled it."
He described the scene as carnage and chaos.
He says that after the screaming the crowd went quiet.
He called out to ask for any nurses or doctors.
He says he was concerned there could be a second device near the courthouse.
He recalls someone alerting him on the police radio that a bomb had gone off.
"I had never heard screaming like that on the police net ever since."
"Once I heard the chaos on the police radio, I knew I had to go."
He now recalls hearing the explosion and knowing immediately what it was.
He says from growing up in Derry/Londonderry he knew the sound all too well.
He says he saw the black smoke and recalls thinking that the bomb wasn't at the courthouse.
Sup Haslett says people weren't taking the bomb warning seriously.
He says he knocked on doors and called for people to evacuate.
He says there was reluctance from people in a pub and a betting shop.
Says people were shouting "bang" and then laughing,
"It was clear that John Street, to the left of the courthouse had not yet been cleared, and there were none of my colleagues there."
He recalls beginning to clear premises on John Street, most of the premises were empty as it was the weekend.
He told whoever was in that there was a bomb threat and they needed to leave their respective premises.
He says he left the station to head toward the courthouse.
He says he saw a lot of people on lower Market Street, the outworking of an evacuation of the area around the courthouse.
He says he saw cars parked on Market Street but there was "nothing unusual" about them.
He says in hindsight the bomb was contained in one of these cars.
Sup Haslett says he was informed that a number of bomb warnings had been received and that the code word that had been used, was the same that had been used in a recent bombing in Banbridge in the 1 August 1998.
"That got my attention."
He described this news as "sobering".
Sup. Haslett says on the day of the bomb he was given some time to do paperwork when he heard the sound of police sirens outside the station.
He went to front gate where he learnt about the bomb warning at the courthouse in Omagh.
"If there was something, anything at all that could provide a modicum of relief or comfort" to the families of victims, "then this is the least I could do", he says.
"My sincere hope is that my contribution to the enquiry will be helpful," he adds.
He says that he has placed all of his memories of the day "in a box in my mind labelled Omagh".
"Over time I have learnt to discipline myself not to open this box save for one single day every year, the anniversary of the bombing."
He says this allows him to deal with event on his own terms.
Image source, Omagh bombing inquirySup. Haslett was a constable in the RUC at the time of the explosion
The inquiry is now hearing from Norman Haslett, a serving PSNI officer.
Sup. Haslett was a constable in the RUC at the time of the explosion and was a first responder to the bomb.
He also assisted in the evacuation of the town.
Lord Turnbull, the chair of the inquiry, thanks Mr Scott "for the strength which you have shown" in speaking to the inquiry.
He says the inquiry is coming to an understanding of the impact on those who attended the scene.
He also praises the work of the Military and Police Support of West Tyrone.
Reading from selected paragraphs of his written statement, Mr Scott says: "There are people who could tell us exactly what happened on that day, and why they did what they did.
"They are the cowards who came into our town and devastated lives."
"The terrorists need to come forward and take responsibility for the death and destruction they left behind."
"It is they who should be here today to explain the impact of their deeds," he adds.
Mr Scott says "many police and military colleagues think because they wore a uniform... they couldn't seem to be weak".
He says that for many of those their pain was masked through alcohol.
Mr Scott's office is only a matter of metres from where the bomb went off.
"So those reminders are there every day," he says.
"You don't function, you survive."
"Every day is a day of survival," he adds.
Mr Scott says this impact on those in service prompted him to set up an organisation - Military and Police Support of West Tyrone.
He says that he still serves that organisation as chairman and as a full-time volunteer.
He says this is his "coping mechanism".