All were originally hired by Pan Am and seniority ranged from 9 months to 28 years. The CIA and FBI said the suspects, employed by Libyan Arab Airlines in Malta, were also Libyan intelligence agents. Iran's involvement is alleged, either in association with a Palestine militant group, or in loading the bomb while the plane was at Heathrow. Five radar echoes fanning out appeared, instead of one. [108], The US National Security Agency's (NSA) alleged interception of an incriminatory message from Libya to its embassy in East Berlin provided US President Ronald Reagan with the justification for Operation El Dorado Canyon on 15 April 1986, with US Navy and US Marine Corps warplanes launching from three aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Sidra and US Air Force warplanes launching from two British bases[109][110]the first US military strikes from Britain since World War IIagainst Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya. Another theory suggests the CIA prevented the suitcase containing the bomb from being searched. Forty minutes into the flight, the plane had reached the coast of Scotland. Pan Am Flight 103 . Although two individuals were eventually arrested and tried under Scots law in a special court in the Netherlands, the case is still open and being actively investigated by the FBI and its Scottish partners. I hope that the contents of this letter underline some of the reasons as to why I cannot possibly accept that any inquiry should be limited to Scotland, and I apologise if my previous personal letter of 24 August misled you over the main focus that the inquiry will need to address. Another 11 people died when the wreckage fell onto the Scottish town, Colin Dorrance (centre) is taking part in the fundraising bike ride to mark the 30th anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster. He previously served three years in the U.S. Navy and five years in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, where he held the rank of major. The trial of Megrahi and Fhimah began on May 3, 2000, and ended on January 31, 2001. Kchler described the decisions of the trial and appeal courts as a "spectacular miscarriage of justice". Every 21 December, a service is held in the university's chapel at 14:03 (19:03 UTC), marking the moment the bomb on board the aircraft was detonated. Another 11 people died when the wreckage fell onto the Scottish town which gave the atrocity its name. File photo from December 22, 1988 shows rescue personnel carrying a body . So, there is a headstone with the 11 people whose bodies were not . Colin chose not to use his position in the police to find out who the child was, feeling that it would have been unprofessional to do so. December 21 is the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year. [85] The second appeal began on 28 April 2009, lasted for one month and was adjourned in May 2009. The people of Lockerbie managed the catastrophe with laudable skill. Two of the victims of the Lockerbie disaster may have initially survived the explosion, a report suggests. [83], On 15 October 2008, five Scottish judges decided unanimously to reject a submission by the Crown Office, which sought to limit the scope of Megrahi's second appeal to the specific grounds of appeal that were identified by the SCCRC in June 2007. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Attali, Jacques (1995), Verbatim, Volume 3, Paris, Fayard. [3] Acceptance of responsibility was part of a series of requirements laid out by a UN resolution for sanctions against Libya to be lifted. January 2001: Al-Megrahi gets life. The Dumfries and Galloway Constabularythen the smallest mainland police force in the United Kingdom, with fewer than two dozen of its approximately 300 officers serving Lockerbietook command of the scene. This date is in doubt, as Gauci had testified that Malta's Christmas lights had not been on when the clothes had been purchased; the lights were later found to have been switched on on 6 December. The people of the town washed, dried, and ironed every piece of clothing that was found once the police had determined they were of no forensic value, so that as many items as possible could be returned to the relatives. Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. holds one of its annual meetings during Remembrance Week, and every year FBI and Scottish investigators and prosecutors brief the group on the status of the case. This mother tragically lost her son in the bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103. Within days of the bombing, and for years after, family members of victims from the United States and other countries made their way to Lockerbie. Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Investigators from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concluded that no emergency procedures had been started in the cockpit. We very much had a tradition where the court building was sacrosanct, McCulloch said. Suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, who is in custody at the Alexandria Adult Detention Center, is seen in this December photograph. Items of baby clothing, which were subsequently proven to have been made in Malta, were thought to have come from the same suitcase. The purchaser was, on Mr Gauci's evidence, a Libyan. As time passed, many came to say thank you. Bissett. Fragments of a Samsonite suitcase believed to have contained the bomb were recovered, together with parts and pieces of circuit board identified as components of a Toshiba 'Bombeat' RT-SF16, radio cassette player, similar to that used to conceal a Semtex bomb seized by West German police from the Palestinian militant group PLO-GC two months earlier. Read about our approach to external linking. I want you to be able to do for victims, particularly terrorism victims, what you did with Pan Am 103, Turman recalled. Steven was laid to rest with his brother and sister in a Lockerbie graveyard. She didn't realize at first what was . Many of them come up here for Remembrance Week. Targets specified are Pan Am Airlines and US military bases.' But after Libya was sanctioned by the United Nations for initially refusing to hand over the suspects for trial to face trial, it was agreed that the pair would be prosecuted at a neutral site in the Netherlands. "[135], Another top legal firm in the US, Speiser Krause, which represented 60 relatives, of whom half were UK families, concluded contingency deals securing them fees of between 28 and 35% of individual settlements. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 December 21, 1988 sent a shock wave around the world. This Timeline displays events related to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and was created by the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives at Syracuse University to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the tragedy. In 2001, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, was jailed for life after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing. [105], The motive that is generally attributed to Libya can be traced back to a series of military confrontations with the US Navy that took place in the 1980s in the Gulf of Sidra, the whole of which Libya claimed as its territorial waters. When the disaster occurred, Bells Glasgow desk contained files of all the cases he was working on. (5 minutes) LOCKERBIE, ScotlandThe sky rained fire on a chill December night here in 1988. Air Crash Investigation - Black Box Sky Crimes, PSA Flight 1771, FedEx Flight 705 , Pan Am Flight. His father, S. Frank Ciulla, was killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Airlines bent over backwards to book people on overnight flights. Dark Elegy is the work of sculptor Suse Lowenstein of Long Island, whose son Alexander, then 21, was a passenger on the flight. David Jardine, now a group commander with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, was 19 years old and had just completed basic training with the Dumfries and Galloway Fire Brigade. [10] It was the 15th 747 built, and was delivered in February 1970,[11][12] one month after the first 747 entered service with Pan Am. On 14 March 2002, Lord Cullen took less than three minutes to deliver the decision of the High Court of Judiciary. Also aboard was Irish Olympic sailor Peter Dix[29] and rock musician Paul Jeffreys and his wife. [39] Keegans' house at 1 Sherwood Crescent was the only one on the street that was not either destroyed by the impact or gutted by fire. In August 2009, he was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. . Although it is sadly symbolic that the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 occurred on that day, it is perhaps more meaningful to consider that the responses to the tragedythe kindnesses shown, the friendships made, the positive changes to aviation security, and law enforcements care for victimscontinue to cast a very bright light into the world all these years later. Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Lockerbie bombing victims with the remaining 20% of the sum agreed in 2003; News.bbc.co.uk. [147], In an interview with Swedish newspaper Expressen on 23 February 2011, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, former Justice Secretary of Libya, claimed to have evidence that Gaddafi personally ordered Al-Megrahi to carry out the bombing. Terrific heat, he recalled. It was like war for them, said Lockerbie resident Moira Shearer, speaking of the young soldiers who had never seen death before. CNN reporter Nic Robertson said he was "just a shell of the man he once was" and was surviving on oxygen and an intravenous drip. Lockerbie is a small town, said Alex Smith, where nothing much happens, but neighbors tend to know each other. Although he believes that most residents would like to quietly get along with business and not make a fuss about it, the townspeople responded to the disaster with amazing courage and dignity. All Rights Reserved. Their son witnessed a fireball engulfing his home from a neighbour's garage, where he had been repairing his sister's bicycle. His mother, Elizabeth . The Libyan offer was that 40% of the money would be released when United Nations sanctions, suspended in 1999, were cancelled; another 40% when US trade sanctions were lifted; and the final 20% when the US State Department removed Libya from its list of states sponsoring terrorism. Megrahi 'hero's welcome' triggers a diplomatic row, "Brown, BP Cleared of Lobbying Scots to Free Bomber", Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is 'in coma', "Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi dies in Tripoli", "The U.S. has taken custody of the alleged bomb maker in the 1988 Lockerbie attack", "U.S. Unseals Charges Against New Suspect in 1988 Lockerbie Bombing, and who is Mas'ud? On 29 May 2002, Libya offered up to US$2.7billion to settle claims by the families of the 270 killed in the Lockerbie bombing, representing US$10million per family. According to a CIA analysis dated 22 December 1988, several groups were quick to claim responsibility in telephone calls in the United States and Europe: The list's author noted, "We consider the claims from the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution as the most credible one received so far," but the analysis concluded, "We cannot assign responsibility for this tragedy to any terrorist group at this time. [22] The rear fuselage, parts of the baggage hold, and three landing gear units landed at Rosebank Crescent. On Saturday, accompanied by 70 supporters, they cycled from Lockerbie to Edinburgh Castle. Dec. 21, 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 explodes 31,000 feet over Lockerbie, Scotland, 38 minutes after takeoff from London. Within minutes of running outside with his father, their home had burned to the ground. Jeannine Boulanger's daughter Nicole was 21 when she was killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. [20]:44 The fuselage consisting of the main wing box structure landed in Sherwood Crescent, destroying three homes and creating a large impact crater. Discovery Company. The attack on Pan Am flight 103 killed 270 people, including 190 Americans. [161] This play has received the Silver Medal from the Onassis International Playwriting Competition and the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award. It looked as though they were asleep, it wasn't obviously injured, and it was just a shock to realise it was a passenger from Pan Am 103. A flight attendant was found alive by a farmer's wife, but died before help could be summoned. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. terrorist bombing, over Lockerbie, Scotland, United Kingdom [1988]. The Sorrow Over Lockerbie (Flight 103) 747 Crash Bomb Pan Am. On Dec. 21, 1988, a bomb went off on a Pan Am passenger plane flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, causing a midair explosion that sent the aircraft crashing down. Transcript of the proceedings of the Scottish court in the Netherlands 2001, day 86. [88][89] On 20 August 2009, Megrahi was released from prison and travelled by chartered jet to Libya. In July 2010 an investigation spurred by U.S. senators revealed that oil company BP had lobbied for a prisoner transfer agreement between the United Kingdom and Libya. Most Americans were awakened to the reality of terrorism on September 11, 2001, but more than a decade earlier, a few days before Christmas in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, bound to New York from London and carrying mainly U.S. citizens, was blown out of the sky by a terrorist bomb over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie. Victoria Cummock's husband was among the 259 passengers who died after a bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, just north of the England-Scotland border. That focus lies in London and at the door of the then inhabitant of Number 10 Downing Street. Their brother Frank decided his children, both under 10, were too young. The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 was concealed in a cassette recorder and packed inside a suitcase that was loaded onto a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany, with no accompanying passenger. December 21, 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit via London blows up. We didnt disclose a great deal of material to victims for fear that it would somehow damage the investigation., The magnitude of this case required new thinking. There is also a book of remembrance at Lockerbie public library and another at Tundergarth Church. On 16 August 2003, Libya formally admitted responsibility for Pan Am Flight 103 in a letter presented to the president of the United Nations Security Council. Pan Am 103's casualties included 11 victims in the Scottish town of Lockerbie, who were struck by falling wreckage. Air traffic control tried to make contact with the flight, with no response. [119] An op-ed article by Pamela Dix, subtitled "The families of those killed in the bombing have not given up hope of an inquiry to help us learn the lessons of this tragedy", was published in The Guardian on 26 October 2009. His survival beyond the approximate "three-month" prognosis generated some controversy. For the hijacking in Karachi, see, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi. 25 of 35 students were from Syracuse.". French investigative journalist Pierre Pan accused Thomas Thurman, a Federal Bureau of Investigation explosives expert, of fabricating false evidence against Libya in both the Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772 sabotages. Search instead in. He had carried the child into the town hall. When asked if Libya would therefore seek reimbursement of the compensation paid to the families of the victims (US$33billion in total), Saif Gaddafi replied: "I don't know". In October 2008 it was announced that Megrahi was suffering from terminal cancer, and in August 2009, he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds. The suitcase was then routed to a feeder flight in Frankfurt bound for Londons Heathrow Airport, where it was ultimately loaded onto the doomed jet. Some wanted to know exactly where their loved ones body had been recovered. [45], Just days before the sabotage of the aircraft, security forces in European countries, including the UK, were put on alert after a warning from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that extremists might launch terrorist attacks to undermine the then-ongoing dialogue between the United States and the PLO. The bomb, constructed with the odourless plastic explosive Semtex, was hidden in a cassette player that was stored in a suitcase. [99][100], According to The New York Times, Mas'ud was born in Tunisia in 1951, before he became a citizen of Libya as a child after he moved to Tripoli, Libya. It was one of the most satisfying experiences of my career, Turman said. . The approach was to make sure that families have information, make sure they have support, make sure we take their needs seriously and help them get through one of the most horrible things that can happen to somebody., Today, it is standard procedure for what is now the FBIs Victim Services Division to clean and return personal effects to victims of crimes. Volunteers like the laundry ladies were just people who wanted to do the wee bit, to put something back in, and I think we can never lose sight of that, that human kindness. DUMFRIES, Scotland (AP) _ Two passengers might have survived the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 had they received the best medical care immediately, a Scottish pathologist testified Wednesday. 1 The disputed territory of Western Sahara is mostly occupied and administered by Morocco; the Polisario Front claims the territory in militating for the establishment an independ However, he says, although there may be bias against older entrepreneurs, his experience is a benefit, not a . The day of the verdict was January 31, 2001. It was 11 years after the bombing. May 2000: Lockerbie trial opens in Netherlands under Scottish Law. We update each other on what both organizations are doing, we have regular face-to-face meetings, whether in the U.S. or Scotland, and we keep in contact., If I had a message to tell the families and people around the world, Cossar added, it is that this is very much a live investigation, and we are hopeful that at some point in the future we will have potentially another trial and possibly another conviction.. [162], The main UK memorial is at Dryfesdale Cemetery about one mile (1.5 kilometres) west of Lockerbie. [55], The initial investigation into the crash site by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary involved many helicopter surveys, satellite imaging, and a search of the area by police and soldiers. El atentado de Lockerbie Vuelo 103 de Pan Am. He'd gone to the farm where the body of 21-year-old student Lynne Hartunian was found, along with many other passengers from the plane. A Libyan man suspected in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing is now in U.S. custody. Inside the chapel at Dryfesdale there is a book of remembrance. The flight was in route from Heathrow Airport London to New York City. We have sweaters that my uncle bought for our family in perfect condition still, she said, because those women took the time to care, which is absolutely unbelievable.. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Just a minute later, according to a video . Thirty-five of the passengers were students from Syracuse University, who participated in the university's Division of International Programs Abroad (abbreviated as "DIPA Program" and renamed to "Syracuse University Abroad" in 2006, while also known as "Syracuse Abroad" and "Study Abroad Program") and were returning home for Christmas following a semester in Syracuse's London and European campuses. [61], Known as the Lockerbie bombing and the Lockerbie air disaster in the UK, it was described by Scotland's Lord Advocate as the UK's largest criminal inquiry led by the smallest police force in Britain, Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary.[62]. Like many of his colleagues, the case consumed every minute of his professional life. [156][157] The "Remembrance Scholarships" are among the highest honors a Syracuse undergraduate can receive. Everybody wanted to do something to help.. This year marks the 30th anniversary. The couple then kept watch over him for 24 hours and even asked rescue teams if they could take him into their home, away from the biting cold. Al Jalil's commentary to the Expressen came during widespread political unrest and protests in Libya calling for the removal of Ghaddafi from power. And its still happening.. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. on whose farm outside Lockerbie bodies and wreckage rained down 34 years ago. "University remembers Flight 103. In a matter of hours, thousands of police officers, firefighters, military personnel, and other volunteers converged on rural Lockerbie. I remember families saying they were in these vans with Scottish police officers driving 100 miles an hour down the autobahn trying to get them to the court, Turman said. In 1998 Qaddafi finally accepted a proposal to extradite the men. [115] Two online petitions were started: one calling for a UK public inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing;[116] the other a UN inquiry into the murder of UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. [1] Large sections of the aircraft crashed in a residential street in Lockerbie, killing 11 residents. [21], The explosion punched a 50cm (20in) hole on the left side of the fuselage. (AP photo), George Stobbs was the senior police inspector with the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary when the disaster occurred. Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York is bombed midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard, as well as 11 people on the ground. [77] The SCCRC's decision was based on facts set out in an 800-page report that determined that "a miscarriage of justice may have occurred". Bryony was travelling to the United States with her mother Yvonne Owen from Wales, to spend Christmas in Boston. I think that we have accomplished a lot, and that, to me, is how I have been able to handle it., With scholarships and endowments, Johnsons wife, Carole, added, we have been able to fulfill some of Beth Anns dreams for other people. After hospital treatment ended, he returned to his family home. [65], In October 2015, Scottish prosecutors announced that they wanted to interview two Libyan nationals, whom they had identified as new suspects, over the bombing. [23] The explosion in the aircraft hold was magnified by the uncontrolled decompression of the fuselage - a large difference in pressure between the aircraft's interior and exterior. Had his parents' bodies been recovered, the entire family would be buried there together. A Lockerbie disaster victims grandchildren gaze reflectively across the quiet land where their granddad died in Britains worst terrorist attack 30 years ago. ASL interpretation will be available for this event. "[149], In March 2009, it was announced that US lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, received fees of $2million for the work it did from 2006 through 2008 helping the PA103 relatives obtain payment by Libya of the final $2million compensation (out of a total of $10million) that was due to each family. It was held at a former U.S. Air Force base in the Netherlands called Camp Zeist, which was converted into a Scottish court as well as a detention facility for the two defendants. As many as 25 homes were destroyed. The FAA sent it to all US carriers, including Pan Am, which had charged each of the passengers a $5 security surcharge, promising a "program that will screen passengers, employees, airport facilities, baggage, and aircraft with unrelenting thoroughness";[43] the security team in Frankfurt found the warning under a pile of papers on a desk the day after the bombing. . We want to make sure we dont forget them, she said, and that we live the way they livedgoing after things, not being afraidalways looking forward and making the world a better place.. The next stage will see the group cycling 600 miles from the Lockerbie memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to Syracuse University, which lost 35 students in the bombing. . Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. PA103 was bookable as either a single FrankfurtNew York or a FrankfurtDetroit itinerary, though a scheduled change of aircraft took place in London's Heathrow Airport. Some 300 tons of wreckage were scattered over an area measuring 845 square miles, making the disaster also a crime scene of massive proportions. By Katie Benner and Adam Goldman. A key suspect in 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, the majority of them Americans, is in U.S. custody, officials confirmed Sunday. Other parts of the jetliner came to rest in and around Lockerbie. On Sunday, the US Justice Department said that Masud was in US custody. Although the passengers aboard the plane came from 21 countries, the majority of them were Americans, and the attack increased terrorism fears in the United States. Al-Megrahi later sent to jail in Glasgow. Other theories implicate Libya and Abu Nidal, and apartheid South Africa. In an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton called for Al-Megrahi to be extradited. [28] James Fuller, an American automotive executive who worked for Volkswagen, was returning home from a meeting with Volkswagen executives in Germany. Demands for such an inquiry emerged later, and became more insistent. There were hundreds of passengers brought into the town hall. [39], Many of the passengers' relatives, most of them from the US, arrived there within days to identify the dead. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 may have taken place more than 30 years ago, but the appearance of alleged bombmaker Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi in a US court on Monday has sparked a new wave of interest in the attack. For Dick Marquise, who had been in charge of the FBIs investigation, and other investigators who worked tirelessly on behalf of the victims, the trials results were decidedly mixed. 2. [151], There are several private and public memorials to the PA103 victims. A further US$2million would have gone to each family had the US State Department removed Libya from its list of states regarded as supporting international terrorism, but as this did not happen by the deadline set by Libya, the Libyan Central Bank withdrew the remaining US$540million in April 2005 from the escrow account in Switzerland through which the earlier US$2.16billion compensation for the victims' families had been paid. UN sanctions against Libya and protracted negotiations with Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi secured the handover of the accused on 5 April 1999 to Scottish police at Camp Zeist, the Netherlands, which was selected as a neutral venue for their trial. Flying at an altitude of 31,000 feet, the aircraft had just crossed the border into Scotland when the bomb exploded. For the FBI, Pan Am Flight 103 was a watershed event. "[20]:16 This field, located opposite Tundergarth Church, is where the wreckage most easily identified with images of the accident in the media fell, having fallen "almost flat on its left side, but with a slight nose-down attitude. In all, 270 souls perished. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom, as well as its deadliest aviation disaster.[2]. "Until we heard their story, I thought my dad had possibly had a fiery death, but he was relatively unmarked when he was found. Gaddafi later retracted Ghanem's comments, under pressure from Washington and London. It offered us some comfort to know my fathers body had been looked after, to hope that he had lost consciousness and that his experience of what happened to him was minimal. Laurie says: Wed talked about the trip for a long time but mum has suffered some health problems so we wanted to wait until she was well.