A sleeper cell belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (General Command) had been operating in West Germany in the months before the Pan Am bombing. Steven was laid to rest with his brother and sister in a Lockerbie graveyard. The amount of property on shelving and racks really brought home to me the scale of the numbers of people involved, said Graeme Galloway, a police officer who joined the force when he was 21 years old, a few months before the Lockerbie disaster. That was a tall order, considering that assisting federal crime victims at all was a fairly new concept. [78] Kchler criticised the SCCRC for exonerating police, prosecutors and forensic staff from blame in respect of Megrahi's alleged wrongful conviction. The agreement covers 26 lawsuits filed by American citizens against Libya, and three by Libyan citizens in respect of the US bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi in April 1986 which killed at least 40 people and injured 220. appreciated. Contrary to many popular accounts of the disaster (though repeated, with reference, below), the flight, which had a scheduled gate departure time of 18:00, left Heathrow airport on time.[16][17]. . Some wanted to know exactly where their loved ones body had been recovered. [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. The cockpit crew was based at JFK.[20]. U.S. authorities have taken into custody a Libyan man accused of being involved with making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people . Then, two Libyan radio ships were sunk in the Gulf of Sidra. Other theories implicate Libya and Abu Nidal, and apartheid South Africa. [123][124], In a July 2021 interview, Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said that his father "had stopped riding his horse after the humiliation of the American bombing of Tripoli in 1986 and resumed riding it after the Lockerbie bombing."[125]. Malta was brought into the case because the prosecution argued that the two accused Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, had placed the bomb on an Air Malta aircraft before it was transferred at Frankfurt airport to a feeder flight destined for London's Heathrow airport, from which Pan Am Flight 103 departed. News4's Derrick Ward reports about what that means for loved ones of some of the local victims. "I now know the person I need to remember. [36] A couple and their daughter were killed by the explosion in their house at 16 Sherwood Crescent. The ceremony also honors 2002-03 Lockerbie Scholar Andrew McClune, who died in 2002. Hugh struggled to get across the field and had to take the car and were all looking older, but it was important we made that connection again. It was en route to New York. The Lockerbie bombing, as it came to be known, took 270 lives that evening of Dec. 21, 1988, killing everyone aboard along with 11 residents in the small Scottish town. Inside the chapel at Dryfesdale there is a book of remembrance. The aircraft did not acknowledge this message. [citation needed] The bombing is also compared with the death of actor Brandon Lee on the track Gold off of hip-hop artist GZAs 1995 album Liquid Swords, in the lyric, "Snake got smoked on the set like Brandon Lee, blown out the frame like Pan Am Flight 103. Now, in their verdant peacefulness, they tell the story of a remarkable transatlantic friendship that blossomed out of a terrifying nightmare. All 259 people on board were killed, and 11 individuals on the ground also died. Some of the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed onto the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. [19] One of the Frankfurt security screeners, whose job was to spot explosive devices under X-ray, told ABC News that she had first learned what Semtex (a plastic explosive) was during her ABC interview 11 months after the bombing. Six of the 13 cabin crew members became naturalized US citizens while working for Pan Am. A Libyan man accused of making the bomb which destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie 34 years ago is in United States custody, Scottish authorities . He also said there was no evidence to link Libya with the April 1984 shooting of police officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan Embassy in London. 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. In 1999, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi handed over the two men for trial at Camp Zeist, the Netherlands, after protracted negotiations and UN sanctions. Speaking after he arrived at Edinburgh Castle, Colin said: "I was thinking about Bryony today. [63], Megrahi served just over 10 years of his sentence (beginning 5 April 1999),[64] first in Barlinnie prison, Glasgow, and later in Greenock prison, Renfrewshire, throughout which time he maintained that he was innocent of the charges against him. Five radar echoes fanning out appeared, instead of one. A series of test explosions was carried out to confirm the precise location and quantity of explosive used. "He said it was a child by the name of Bryony Owen who was 20 months old and it had affected his father very badly over the years. . Libya said it had to accept responsibility due to Megrahi's status as a government employee.[4]. Another theory suggests the CIA prevented the suitcase containing the bomb from being searched. Two hundred and fifty-nine people on board the New York-bound Boeing 747 were killed, along with 11 people on the ground. He met the families, and the compassion shown to them by the Scottish police made a deep impression on him. [20] The property was completely destroyed and its two occupants were killed. The cabin crew was based at Heathrow and lived in the London area or commuted from around Europe. The bomb, constructed with the odourless plastic explosive Semtex, was hidden in a cassette player that was stored in a suitcase. [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. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the British Department for Transport concluded that the nose of the aircraft was blown off and separated from the main fuselage within three seconds of the explosion. This annual ceremony remembers the 270 people, including 35 students studying abroad through Syracuse University, who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attack on Pan Am flight 103 killed 270 people, including 190 Americans. Inside each sculpture there is a personal memento of the victim. We wanted to do justice by these families.. [67], On 11 December 2022, the United States advised they had Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi in custody. Colin Dorrance was on duty outside the town hall when a farmer drove down from the hills in a pick-up truck with debris from Pan Am 103 and, placed in the front seat, the body of a young girl. The Scottish court agreed, allowing a live feed of the trial to two sites in the United Kingdomone in Scotland and one in Londonand a delayed, taped feed broadcast to locations in New York and Washington, D.C. Ruined houses in the town of Lockerbie after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York in 1988. ", Cyclists in transatlantic Lockerbie tribute, Lockerbie bomber conviction to be reviewed, Brooke and Timmi prepare for world's greatest dog show, Man brandished knife during disturbance in Borders, court hears, John Lamont takes part in Teal Heroes event at Westminster, Scottish post office which is oldest in the world up for sale with its own cottage, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. May 2018: Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission probes Megrahis conviction. [159], At Cornell University funds from the Libyan payment were used to establish a memorial professorship in honor of student Kenneth J. On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded 31,000 feet over Lockerbie, Scotland, 38 minutes after takeoff from London. Some relatives of the dead, including Lockerbie campaigner Jim Swire, believe the bomb was planted at Heathrow Airport, and not sent via feeder flights from Malta, as per the US and UK governments. The first thing was to really try to understand what the families wanted and expected, she explained. Pan Am flight 103, also called Lockerbie bombing, flight of a passenger airliner operated by Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, after a bomb was detonated. The United States Crime Victims Fund paid for travel for two family members per victim to attend the trial in the Netherlands for approximately a week, or to visit one of the closed-circuit sites. [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. 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. All 259 people on board were killed . On scope, the aircraft showed transponder code, or "squawk", 0357 and flight level 310. [37] The other Lockerbie residents who died were two widows aged 82 and 81, who also both lived in Sherwood Crescent; they were the two oldest victims of the disaster. Megrahi was released on licence, so was obliged to remain in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council. On the ground, 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed when the planes burning wings plunged into a quiet neighborhood just after dinner. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? It was heartbreaking. In 2009 Megrahi, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, was released from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya; the United States strongly disagreed with the Scottish governments decision. Detectives investigating the Lockerbie disaster revealed details yesterday of the painstaking investigation to find those responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103. [73] Kchler also issued a series of statements in 2003, 2005, and 2007 calling for an independent international inquiry into the case and accusing the West of "double standards in criminal justice" in relation to the Lockerbie trial on the one hand and the HIV trial in Libya on the other. After a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the US FBI, during which 15,000 witness statements were taken, indictments for murder were issued on 13 November 1991 against Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta. [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". Clipper Maid of the Seas approached the corner of the Solway Firth at 19:01, and crossed the coast at 19:02 UTC. The aircraft's elevator- and rudder-control cables had been disrupted and the fuselage pitched downwards and to the left.[24]. [Oliver_ FBI's Oliver "Buck" Revell served as Advisor to PCAST]. "[131] The statement first came to public attention in the 1994 documentary film The Maltese Double Cross Lockerbie and was published in both The Guardian of 12 November 1994, and a special report from Private Eye magazine entitled Lockerbie, the flight from justice May/June 2001. Turmans team proposed an idea without precedent: Create a website and provide closed-circuit video coverage of the trial that families could access in various locations on two continents. A flight attendant was found alive by a farmer's wife, but died before help could be summoned. Volunteers from Lockerbie set up and staffed canteens which stayed open 24 hours a day and offered relatives, soldiers, police officers, and social workers free sandwiches, hot meals, beverages, and counseling. 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". A substantial quantity of such timers had been supplied to Libya. The victim assistance plan Turman and her team established for the trial would greatly inform the U.S. governments future policy toward victims of terrorism and other federal crimes. Thirty years later, the chancellors promise is being kept. Others sought the comfort of the peaceful memorials erected to honor the victims. The five judges rejected the appeal, ruling unanimously that "none of the grounds of appeal was well-founded", adding "this brings proceedings to an end". . The family of Frank Ciulla, one of 259 flight passengers who died when Pan-Am flight 103 was bombed, has spoken of the friendship they've built with the family that found him. Eleven residents were killed instantly. Investigators believed then, as they do today, that more co-conspirators were involved in the plot. [163][164] In Sherwood Crescent there is a garden of remembrance to the seven Lockerbie residents killed when the aircraft's main wreckage fell there, destroying their homes.[165]. Lockerbie bombing suspect in US custody. The firm's fees could exceed US$300million eventually. One such incident created an explosion that witnesses likened to a mushroom cloud, and left a crater approximately 40 feet deep where, moments before, residential homes had stood in the town of Lockerbie, the agent said in the affadavit. 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. The bombing kills all 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 jumbo jet and 11 residents of the town of Lockerbie. Bryony Owen and her mum Yvonne both died in the bombing, Colin Dorrance pictured now and during his earlier days in the force. At the 20th anniversary service at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, former FBI Director Robert Mueller greeted Scottish and U.S. investigators who worked on the investigation. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. He was the youngest officer on duty at Lockerbie, Pan Am 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, killing all 259 passengers and crew on board. The Guardian, 12 November 1994, page 6, "Cover-up claim as Lockerbie film screening is cancelled". In all, 270 souls perished. Its still an open case, and I know the FBI is still working with the Scottish Crown Office. On Dec. 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, en route from London's Heathrow Airport to New York, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 243 passengers, 16 crew members and 11 people on the ground. Working through the quiet overnight, said Galloway, who is near retirement after a 30-year career in law enforcement, you get a lot of time to thinkjust to see the peoples lives you were looking at, the clothing, the suitcases that used to belong to someone., And while one should never forget that the bombing was caused by an act of terror, you can also see the goodness in the people who have to react, Galloway added. We knew then we had to meet them.. The plane had reached a height of approximately 31,000 feet (9,500 metres) and was preparing for the oceanic portion of the flight when a timer-activated bomb detonated. Following a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), arrest warrants were issued for two Libyan nationals in November 1991. June Wilson died last year. The Rev John Mosey, who lost his teenage daughter Helga, says: I could hear little clicks and clunks when on the phone and Lockerbie documents disappeared from my computer. Syracuse Universitys Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: 30 Years Later, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: David Jardine, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: George Stobbs, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Stuart Cossar, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Harry Bell, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Dick Marquise, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Kathryn Turman, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Tom McCullough, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: The 'Laundry Ladies', Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Alex Smith, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Graeme Galloway, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Katie Berrell, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Kara Weipz, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Mary Kay Stratis, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Carole Johnson, Remembering Pan Am Flight 103: Vanessa St. Oegger-Menn, FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. When you consider that some of the most critical exhibits, or productions, of the case were found 80 miles from Lockerbie, Cossar said, it shows you the scale of the search., A crime scene for me was normally a house or a room or a field with a person lying in it, said Bell, whose sector included the hard-hit Rosebank neighborhood. In August 2009, he was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. 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. "[citation needed], "Flight 103" redirects here. [80], A procedural hearing at the Appeal Court took place on 11 October 2007 when prosecution lawyers and Megrahi's defence counsel, Maggie Scott QC, discussed a number of legal issues with a panel of three judges. As a result, the United States and the United Nations Security Council imposed economic sanctions against Libya. He would later lead a team of investigators that followed the evidence to Malta. October 2015: Two more suspects linked to Libya investigated. Gaddafi blamed the defeat on French and US "aggression against Libya". [46], On the day of the bombing, the French Directorate-General for External Security was informed by their British counterpart that the UK suspected the Libyans to be behind the bombing.[47]. Megrahi was ultimately found guilty and jailed for a minimum of 27 years. Dr Swire, who became the public face of families fight for justice, said similar things had happened to him. During what Boyd calls Phase 1 of the investigation--the search for bodies--victims were discovered over a 10-mile radius around Lockerbie. 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. We cannot say that it is impossible that the clothing might have been taken from Malta, united somewhere with a timer from some source other than Libya and introduced into the airline baggage system at Frankfurt or Heathrow. All 259 people on board were killed, and 11 individuals on the ground also died. [3] On 22 February 2011, during the Libyan Civil War, former Minister of Justice Mustafa Abdul Jalil stated in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen that Gaddafi had personally ordered the bombing. [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. Air Crash Investigation - Black Box Sky Crimes, PSA Flight 1771, FedEx Flight 705 , Pan Am Flight. 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. Theres no other place we feel as connected to him as on the farm. El atentado de Lockerbie Vuelo 103 de Pan Am. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by Clipper Maid of the Seas, a Boeing 747-121 registered N739PA. [18][19] Comparison of the CVR to the radar returns showed that, eight seconds after the explosion, the wreckage had a 1-nautical-mile (1.9km) spread. The colleges attended by some students are identified . When the fuel-laden wings and a section of the main body . Eleven Lockerbie residents on Sherwood Crescent were killed when the wing section hit the house at 13 Sherwood Crescent at more than 800km/h (500mph) and exploded, creating a crater 47m (154ft) long and with a volume of 560m3 (730cuyd). "Lockerbie pair 'could have survived', This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 21:49. In October 2015, Scottish officials announced that two additional Libyans had been identified as suspects in the bombing. Some of the 196 bodies found so far did contain shrapnel, he said. He had worked a day shift and was at home when a newsflash on the television announced that an airplane had crashed. 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. [146] Several of the victims families refused to accept compensation due to their belief that Libya was not responsible. After the bombing, the flight number was changed, in accordance with standard practice among airlines after disasters. Flying at an altitude of 31,000 feet, the aircraft had just crossed the border into Scotland when the bomb exploded. All 259 people on board were killed, as well as 11 people in the town of . It will always, in my view, outshine any terrorist act., Katie Berrell is a senior at Syracuse University, about the same age as her uncle, Steven Berrell, when he was killed on Pan Am Flight 103. Subsequent analysis of the radar returns by RSRE concluded that the aircraft was tracking 321 (grid) and travelling at a ground speed of 803km/h (499mph; 434kn). [20]:44 Due to the extreme flutter, the vertical stabilizer disintegrated, which in turn produced large yawing movements. [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. Then as now, the goal is to hold everyone involved responsible for the crime and to bring justice to the families of the victims. "It was a young child under the age of five. After a three-year investigation in which the FBI and Scottish authorities worked hand in hand, the British and American governments in November 1991 announced indictments and warrants for the arrests of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. December 21 is the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year. The level of collaboration at the trial between the FBI, Department of Justice, and other federal law enforcement agencies, along with Scottish partnerswho had already set a remarkable example of compassion toward victims in the aftermath of the bombingforged a connection between family members, investigators, and victim advocates that exists to this day. At Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, a memorial cairn constructed of 270 stonesone for each of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 who came from 21 different countriesis the sight of an annual service on the anniversary of the disaster, December 21. "[20]:16, The British Geological Survey 23 kilometres (14mi) away at Eskdalemuir registered a seismic event at 19:03:36 measuring 1.6 on the moment magnitude scale, which was attributed to the impact. 2023 BBC. 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. [168], The bombing of Flight 103 has been depicted in many documentaries, such as Air Crash Investigation and the BBC. Syracuse University Libraries' Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives, part of the Special Collections Research Center, is sponsoring a public lecture on Friday, Oct. 21, from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons in Bird Library, Room 114. [98] In December 2022, the United States government obtained custody of 71-year-old Mas'ud. Had his parents' bodies been recovered, the entire family would be buried there together. Investigations were soon launched in the United . Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, while the aircraft was in flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, it was destroyed by a bomb that had been planted on board, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. The bodies of two of these students were never recovered. The Lockerbie bombing took place on December 21, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown out of the sky. The US State Department maintained that it was not directly involved. on whose farm outside Lockerbie bodies and wreckage rained down 34 years ago. Thursday 22 December 1988 was the first day of a changed Lockerbie. Lockerbie Air Disaster Subject File. 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. On Sunday, the US Justice Department said that Masud was in US custody. More U.S. civilians died in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland than in any other terrorist attack except 9/11. First Officer Raymond R. Wagner (52), a pilot with Pan Am since 1966 with almost 5,500 hours in the 747 and a total of nearly 12,000 hours, had previously served eight years in the New Jersey National Guard. And its not just for the 35 they lost. [93], Allegations have been made that the UK government and BP sought Al-Megrahi's release as part of a trade deal with Libya. The child was the first victim to arrive at what became a makeshift mortuary, but the young constable never discovered who she was, until a chance meeting with the farmer's son finally solved the mystery. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Pan Am 103 originated as a feeder flight at Frankfurt Airport, West Germany, using a Boeing 727 and the flight number PA103-A. The retired GP said: These two guys asked to meet me. [133][132], On 15 August 2003, Libya's UN ambassador, Ahmed Own, submitted a letter to the UN Security Council formally accepting "responsibility for the actions of its officials" in relation to the Lockerbie bombing. On 31 January 2001, Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges, and sentenced to life imprisonment, but Fhimah was acquitted. [122], On 23 February 2011, amidst the Libyan Civil War, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, former Libyan Justice Minister (and later member and Chairman of the anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council), alleged that he had evidence that Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, had personally ordered Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to bomb Pan Am Flight 103. [103], Until 2002, Libya had never formally admitted carrying out the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. 2. 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.