30th Anniversary of La Mon Massacre - Part one

'I feel cheated at the loss of my daughter'

Thirty years ago tonight the La Mon "holocaust" blew a massive hole in the hearts and minds of Ulster.

Despite the passing of time, the atrocity feels as raw as if it was yesterday for 84-year-old Rita Crawford who lost her only child and son-in-law in the bomb.

In years since the bombing, Rita (now called Morrison), admits she and her husband Ernie "struggled to cope". Ernie died suddenly 14 years ago, Rita believes, from a broken heart.

Only last year - at 83 - Rita married again and is now living in Ballymoney.

For her, February 17 is a dark date that she and other victims' relatives will never forget.

February 17, 1978 was a Friday - and the date of the Irish Collie Club dinner.

That night Rita and her late husband were meeting their 25-year-old daughter Elizabeth and her husband of 18 months, Ian McCracken, at the La Mon House Hotel.

"They arrived at the hotel later than us and went to sit at another table with their friends," said Rita.

"I remember Elizabeth arriving. She was wearing a peach chiffon frock with a cream chiffon rose that Ian had bought her as a present."

Rita said everyone sat down to dinner at around 8.45pm and the first course had just been lifted "when there was a great bang".

She said: "There was a flash up in the room like a huge fireball of light, like a moon or a sun, it was so bright. There was a deafening noise too.

"All the electrics went out. Then, the flames came - they kept rising higher and higher. People were on fire. They were rolling around on the floor trying to put the flames out.

"My husband and I just could not move. It was as if we were screwed down to the ground. I saw people in fire round

me. A man near me had his hair on fire. It was not until the staff came out of the kitchen and pushed us out backwards through the kitchen that we moved."

Rita said in the chaos of the minutes after the bomb no-one knew what was happening.

She said: "The lights had gone out and we couldn't see. People were getting up out of their seats, squealing and panicking."

Rita said when she next realised the time it was 9pm and she was in an ambulance outside the hotel.
At this stage Elizabeth was nowhere to be found. Rita said she believed Elizabeth and Ian were coming behind her as they weren't sitting that far away in the restaurant.

"I kept saying, Elizabeth, Elizabeth ... I want Elizabeth, Where is she? I can't find her ...," said Rita.
"We searched everywhere that night in a blind panic. There were few telephones in those days, so we searched all the hospitals in Belfast and different police stations.

"We were at Dundonald police station around 5.30am when we found out the remains of Elizabeth and Ian had been discovered.

"It was only when Ernie was asked to go and identify some of Elizabeth's jewellery that we knew it was her. We were not allowed to identify the bodies."

In the years following the atrocity Rita said she and Ernie "did not cope at all at the start".

She said: "After Elizabeth died we moved about, we were unsettled after it happened. Then Ernie died very suddenly and I had no-one.

"Elizabeth was an only child and Ian was an only son. They were only a year and a half married. We never found out if they died instantly.

"Sure, I have tortured myself for 30 years wondering if Elizabeth died from her burns or smoke inhalation."

Rita said their little family unit of three had been 'Very, very close".

"Never a day passed that we were not talking to Elizabeth after she got married," she said. "We had great fun and then it all ended so tragically. I feel cheated of her now and maybe even grandchildren as well." 16th February 2008 News Letter