Bassist Stephen Travers was seriously wounded by a dum-dum bullet which had struck him when the gunmen had first begun shooting. He survived by pretending he was dead, as he lay beside the body of McCoy. Saxophone player Des McAlea, who had been standing closest to the minibus, was hit by its door when it was blown off in the explosion, but was not badly wounded. He lay hidden in thick undergrowth, face down, undetected by the gunmen. He also survived by remaining silent, pretending he was dead. However, the flames from the burning hedge (which had been set on fire by the explosion) soon came dangerously close to where he lay; he was forced to leave his hiding spot. By this time the gunmen had left the scene, assuming everyone else had been killed. Travers later recalled hearing one of the departing gunmen tell his comrade who had kicked McCoy's body to make sure he was not alive: "Come on, those bastards are dead. I got them with dum-dums". McAlea made his way up the embankment to the main road where he hitched a lift to alert the RUC at their barracks in Newry.