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Woman recalls Madrid massacre

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Denise Ann Gilroy, who’s 52 and originally from the Ravenhill Road area, was one of thousands of commuters traveling on the early-morning trains targeted by Islamic terrorists on March 11.
Ten bombs ripped through the four trains, killing almost 200 people and leaving at least 1,800 injured.
It was the second time Gilroy had been caught up in a bomb attack. As a 20-year-old in Belfast in 1972, she had witnessed the aftermath of the Abercorn restaurant bombing.
“I had only been taking the train to work for about 10 days,” Gilroy told the Belfast Telegraph from her home outside Madrid. “My husband said it would be more relaxing and, of course, it turned out to be a far worse trauma than we could ever imagine.”
An English teacher who has lived in the Spanish capital for more than 20 years, Gilroy was traveling from her home in a village on the outskirts of Madrid to the city center.
“I was in the fourth carriage,” she said. “We had only traveled four or five stations when the bomb went off. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God it’s a bomb.’ There was this terrible silence and then I heard the man behind me screaming, ‘Help me, help me.’ I saw people lying all over the place. I turned around and the man who was screaming had his hand outstretched for help.
“My back hurt a lot and it took me a few minutes to get up. Two girls who were walking along the platform saw me and helped me down from the train. I couldn’t breathe very well, I was in deep shock. I looked up and saw other people coming off the train. They were very badly injured. It was dreadful. Horrendous.
“It’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It’s very hard to forget the horrific injuries some people had. There were several with very bad head wounds.”
Gilroy recalled the IRA bombing of the Belfast restaurant 32 years ago. “I was in the city center that day and heard the blast,” she said. “I can remember the panic and confusion that followed. That was the only other time I had ever heard or seen a bomb before this.
“You never think that you’re going to get caught up in something like that and I never thought it would happen in Madrid.”
Gilroy was treated in hospital for injuries to her back that will require further treatment.

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