Mr Quigley recalls being asked to escort two patients to Altnagelvin via helicopter.

He says the patients were on hospital beds and that they would have no mattresses under them for the journey.

He describes preparing the helicopter for the patients: “I got two bales of blankets and used them in the rear of the helicopter."

He says the journey was short and that he remembers landing in the dark.

“I was sent home just after midnight,” he adds.

He says: “It was only now I remember that today was my little half sister's birthday."

Mr Quigley recalls how they had mentioned their plans to go into town on the day of the bomb.

He adds that panic set in as he tried to get phone signal to call his dad.

“I was so glad to hear one of the girls had been feeling unwell that morning,” is how he describes the relief of finding out they put of the trip.

“I was so relived,” he says.

Mr Quigley says he drove in convoy to a 'make shift' morgue in the Army gymnasium.

"I recall seeing the number of body bags laid out.. the size of the gym and the number of body bags was something that should only have been seen in a movie," he says.

Mr Quigley says he was instructed to move all the A&E vehicles to a car park on the Dublin Road that had access to Market Street.

He says that he was instructed to stay in the car park while crews put bodies into body bags.

He adds “we had used all the bags we had”, he continues that each vehicle was loaded with four body bags.

Mr Quigley recalls physically checking body bags to identify what ends was the head and legs.

He says he was shocked by his inability to identify the head or the feet.

“I got frustrated and kicked a piece of shrapnel,” he adds.

Mr Quigley says that he remembers sitting on the bridge at Drumragh Avenue “deep in thought.”

He says that they had run out of cigarettes and that a colleague had went to look for more.

He adds that he returned with cigarettes and bottles of water from a “very kind” shop owner.

Mr Quigley describes this moment as “weirdly quiet”.

Mr Quigley tells the inquiry: "I remember the smell of beer was strong at the bomb site from the remains of the bar opposite.

"The patients had all been moved to Omagh hospital prior to our arrival.

An Ulsterbus had been used to remove casualties.

"We needed body bags, we only ever carried a few in our vehicles," he says.

He descibed them as being made of "a white plastic weave material, no handles."

Mr Quigley describes arriving at the scene, saying it was “oddly quiet, no screaming of patients, evidence of the explosion and a smell”.

He describes giving his helmet to a colleague and never seeing it again.

He says it “felt like we were on our own”.

This was the first explosion he had attended and he says his colleagues “kept him busy”.

Image source, The Omagh Inquiry

The inquiry now hears from Richard Quigley, a registered paramedic with NIAS who was on duty during the day of the bomb.

He was tasked with delivering patients to and from Belfast that day.

He recalls a 'call code red' alert coming through to him and his colleagues.

On route to Omagh, in the back of one of three ambulances, Mr Quigley "set up saline drips", "emptied a blue kit bag and filled it with bandages, gauze, slings and whatever may of been required at the confirmed explosion".

He remembered how the journey time was quicker than usual, the roads were quiet.

He described smoking with a colleague while in the van, "stressed by not knowing what to expect".

Richard Quigley is delivering his statement to the inquiry

Mr Quinn recalled helping an injured woman onto an Ulsterbus at the scene, he describes the floor of the bus as red with blood rather than blue.

He referred to a saying within the fire service, which he said applies to his and others’ experience at Omagh.

“The saying is: ‘The firefighter may leave the incident, but the incident doesn’t leave the firefighter’,” he told the inquiry.

He then explained that he has now been trained to provide help and advice to his colleagues in critical incident stress management and emotional trauma.

Referring to a famous photgraph taken during the Vietnam War, Mr Quinn said: “There was a cloud of dust and there was a young girl running across the road terrified, and that’s just the image I have of people from Omagh.”

Describing the looks of "disbelief" and "concern" on the faces of his colleagues, who he said were worried their own family members were caught up in the bomb.

He told the inquiry that he remembers his colleagues asking: "Where is my wife, my son, my daughter?”

He added that they continued to do the job they were called to do.

Mr Quinn said he heard the explosion while working at a carpet shop and he was the first to arrive at the fire station.

He added, none of the firefighters were anxious as there was no mentions of casualties and they assumed the area had been cleared.

The firefighters thought they were going to be dealing with damaged buildings and clearing debris or possibly a fire, he said.

Mr Quinn was on the first fire engine that went to Market Street and arrived at a scene of “total chaos, devastation, carnage”.

Image source, Omagh Bombing Inquiry

Earlier this morning, the inquiry heard from Paddy Quinn.

Mr Quinn was working as a part-time firefighter on the day of the bombing.

He told the inquiry that in his 29 years as a firefighter in Omagh he had attended many tragic and horrendous incidents.

However, he likened the aftermath of the Omagh bomb to an image of the Vietnam War.

"Nothing I have ever responded to since the Omagh bomb has ever come anywhere close," he said.

The inquiry hearing is taking a break and will return shortly with a witness statement from Richard Quigley.

Sound has returned to the inquiry live stream.

A full transcript of the witness statement of Paddy Quinn will be published on the inquiry website, external later on Monday.

The inquiry have said: "We are currently experiencing sound issues with the livestream of today's hearing, and are working to resolve them as quickly as possible.

"Please note that the transcript of today’s hearing will be available and uploaded to the Inquiry’s website at the end of the day."

We currently are receiving no sound from the inquiry, so we are unable to bring you updates at this moment and time.

Good morning, and welcome back to BBC News NI's live coverage of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.

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

This is the final week of this phase of the inquiry.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman expecting twins, were murdered in the Real IRA attack on 15 August 1998.

During the inquiry, we have heard commemorations of victims of the Omagh bombing as well as accounts from witnesses and people who were injured.

Today we are expected to hear from:

• Paddy Quinn
• Richard Quigley
• Commemoration of James Barker by Victor Barker
• Read statements of Maeve O'Brien, Dervlagh O'Brien and Damian Murphy

The inquiry is due to begin at 11:00 GMT.