THE 50th anniversary of the no-warning Abercorn bombing will pass today without any major commemoration.
Two young women were killed and 70 people were caught up in a blast which ripped through the popular Abercorn Restaurant in Belfast city centre on the afternoon of Saturday, March 4 1972.
That year is seen as the worst of the Troubles, with major atrocities including the killing of 13 civilians in Derry by the British Army on Bloody Sunday and IRA bombings across Belfast on Bloody Friday.
The IRA did not claim responsibility for the Abercorn bombing but were believed to have been involved.
Although no public commemorations are planned, some survivors will mark the date privately.
The bomb, packed with five pounds of gelignite, exploded at the restaurant on Castle Lane at around 4.30pm - two minutes after a warning was made to a 999 operator.
The two young Catholic women who died instantly in the blast were friends Janet Bereen (21) and Ann Owens (22).
Ms Owens was employed at the Electricity Board. Ms Bereen was a radiographer at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Following the blast, her father Dr Fred Bereen worked through the night to help survivors not knowing that his only daughter was dead.
Survivor Jennifer McNern, then just 21, and her sister Rosaleen were among those left badly injured.
They had called into the busy restaurant after spending the afternoon shopping in the city centre.
Jennifer lost both her legs in the bombing while Rosaleen lost an arm and both legs and was blinded in one eye.
Jennifer said yesterday it was important to remember Ms Bereen and Ms Owens and their grieving families.
“What happened will never leave them,” she said.
“Nor will it leave those severely injured who have to live with the mental trauma and the physical scars.
“I understand the significance of an anniversary but for the families of Ann and Janet and all those maimed this is with us each and every day.”
A senior nursing officer, who was working at the Royal Victoria Hospital where the most severely injured were taken, remembered the scale of the bombing.
The woman, known only as Anne, said she clearly recalled the smell following the attack.
“Also patients sent to theatre as soon as possible were often wearing the remains of their clothes, torn and full of dust,” she said.
“Clothing removed in A&E was put in a plastic bag.
“Examining these was difficult: finding personal items such as pension books, car and house keys, wallets with photographs, some barely recognisable.
“I remember passing a piece of jewellery to a member of admin staff to be taken to a relative for identification.”
Sandra Peake, chief executive of the WAVE Trauma Centre said every day is an anniversary of death and injury in the north.
“At WAVE we are very conscious of how sensitive these anniversaries are for those most affected,” she said.
“Some will want to speak out to ensure that what happened to them or their loved one is never forgotten because of the passage of time.
“Others will mark it in their own quiet way.
“But all will remember.”
In 2020, Ms McNern took a successful High Court case over the failure of the Stormont Executive and the British government to pay an agreed pension to victims who were severely physically and mentally injured during the Troubles.
The long-delayed scheme finally opened last year.
