LOCKERBIE DISASTER
26th October 1988:The German police captured two terrorists Hafeez Dalkamouni and Marwan Khreesat near Dusseldorf. Dalkamouni transports weapons to Syria and Khreesat is a notorious bomb maker.Both men worked for "THE POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE".The police made an unusual discovery in the trunk of their car.They found some blank passports,and a small arsenal of weapons including a radio with a Barometric time meter.A Barometric time meter is set off by changes in altitude and is triggered when it reaches a certain altitude.With the busy Christmas approaching soon,the German police have made commercial aviation a bit safer.
Two months later,on 21st December 1988 Pan American airways(Pan Am) flight 103 is on its way from London to New York.Captain Jim McQuarrie and First officer Ray Wagner are at the controls of the Boeing 747.The plane is called as the "Clipper Maid of the Seas".Also, Flight engineer Jerry Don Avritt is in the cockpit.There are 259 people on board including all passengers and flight crew.The plane has just took off from London's Heathrow Airport. Lockerbie is a small town in the Scottish lowlands through which the plane will pass by.5 miles away,the people of Lockerbie are preparing for Christmas unaware that they live besides a busy aerial highway. Lockerbie police officer Michael Gordon is chatting with a friend when he heard strange noises.The sky was dark and he saw black objects falling from the sky.Within moments,Lockerbie was burning.
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| THE COCKPIT OF PAN AM 103 |
Michael Gordon ran towards the burning neighbourhood.The houses,the streets were on fire.There,he found an airline passport.It read London Heathrow to New York JFK. Somehow,Pan Am flight 103 has crashed down in Lockerbie. Investigators soon arrive at the crash site.The AAIB(Air Accidents Investigation Branch)of England quickly get to work.11 Lockerbie residents died in the disastrous crash.In all,270 people died.The debris of flight 103 is scattered all over Lockerbie,on an area more than than the whole of London.
The investigators with the Lockerbie police department form a team and set out in groups to collect the debris littered all over the town.They put pieces of debris in small plastic bags and human remains in black bags;and left it to be collected later.The investigators tried to make a pattern of how the debris is scattered over Lockerbie. It resembles the shape of a cone.While in Lockerbie the holiday spirit of Christmas is no more.
The first thing that troubles the investigators is the age of the plane.The Clipper Maid of The Seas is only the 15th 747 ever build by Boeing.It has logged 75,000 flying hours and is 18 years old.But,the flight records doesn't reveal anything related to the plane.So,the age of the plane is no longer an issue that troubles the investigators.
A 747 is made of 4 million pieces out of which some are recovered while some are not.Among the recovered ones,a particular piece of debris gives the investigators the lead they were looking for.It is the Metal strap of the cargo hold.It has small holes on it and it looks like as if it was very near to an explosion.It is 25th,the day of Christmas but for the AAIB Investigators it is treated like any other day.For the Lockerbie residents,December 1988 Christmas will never ever be forgotten.
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| THE REMAINS OF FLIGHT 103 AT A HANGER |
The investigators set out to look for the other piece of the metal strap at a farmer's field outside Lockerbie.Luckily,as for them they got the other piece right there
buried inside the earth.Sure enough,even this piece had small holes on it.And very soon it was confirmed by the forensics that there were explosives present on both the pieces of the metal strap which means there was an explosion in the cargo hold at the front of the plane.It was now clear that flight 103 was bombed.
Six months before,an Iranian passenger jet was brought down by the U.S navy.The U.S government justified it by telling that it was just a mistake but Iran was angry on U.S.
Maybe,this could be one of the reason for the bombing of flight 103.Also,the U.S embassy in Helsinki,Finland had received a threat that a Pan American airways passenger jet from Frankfurt,Germany would be targeted.Flight 103 had passengers that were travelling by a connecting flight from Frankfurt.Charles Mckee,a U.S government officer was also on board flight 103.He was returning to U.S after freeing hostages from the middle east.He could be the target.But there was no proper evidence of him being the target.
Among the wreckage,the investigators found a suitcase with some clothes in it.It looked as if it was very close to the explosion.It was a Samsonite.The radio discovered was a Toshiba Bombeat which was similar to the one seized by the German police just few months ago.But,the one used in the explosion had two speakers whereas the one which was seized had only one speaker which clearly indicates that it was someone else who was responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
As the investigation went further, it was revealed that the explosion took place at the front cargo hold of the plane just below the "P" of the Pan Am.Also the level at which the explosion took place was known.It was now clear the bomb was kept at the second level of the front cargo hold of the plane.The investigators checked the passengers list and it was found that the passenger who checked in the Samsonite never boarded the flight.Pan Am 103 had luggage of a connecting flight from Frankfurt.Somehow,the suitcase carrying bomb slipped through the security at Heathrow.
The clothes that were found in the suitcase were made by a manufacturer who sold all of it in Malta.Investigators found the shop in Malta from where the clothes were purchased.According to the shopkeeper, a man with a Libyan accent had made the purchase of the clothes.It was a clear indication to everyone that sure enough,Libya was somehow involved in the bombing of Pan Am 103.
The circuit used in the bomb was matched with many different circuits by the investigators.But,none turn up.Then,AAIB investigator travelled to U.S. with the piece of circuit to take help of the NTSB. Sure enough,a perfect match to it was found by Bomb expert John Mcidull. The latter was seized from Libya,Africa.Upon further investigation,it came to the notice of the investigators that all of these type of circuits were sold to MEBO, a radio company and only high ranking officers had access to it. Finally,in 2002,after 14 years of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 a name came. Abdelbaset al Megrahi, a high ranking libyan official was found to be the prime suspect for the bombing of flight 103.He was found guilty whereupon he confessed his crime by adding that he had done this on the saying of Muammar Gaddafi, a Libyan leader colonel in 1999.
Even Pan Am was held responsible for the bombing.After Air India 182 bombing,passenger and luggage verification was made mandatory which Pan Am followed for sometime but stopped carrying out few months before the bombing.Pan Am went in debts and the airliner became bankrupt in due course of time.
"THE IRRESPONSIBILITY OF AN AIRLINER CLAIMED THE SOULS OF 270 INNOCENT PEOPLE.TODAY,THE MANGLED WRECKAGE OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 STANDS AT A HANGER IN FARMBROUGH,ENGLAND."
Six months before,an Iranian passenger jet was brought down by the U.S navy.The U.S government justified it by telling that it was just a mistake but Iran was angry on U.S.
Maybe,this could be one of the reason for the bombing of flight 103.Also,the U.S embassy in Helsinki,Finland had received a threat that a Pan American airways passenger jet from Frankfurt,Germany would be targeted.Flight 103 had passengers that were travelling by a connecting flight from Frankfurt.Charles Mckee,a U.S government officer was also on board flight 103.He was returning to U.S after freeing hostages from the middle east.He could be the target.But there was no proper evidence of him being the target.
Among the wreckage,the investigators found a suitcase with some clothes in it.It looked as if it was very close to the explosion.It was a Samsonite.The radio discovered was a Toshiba Bombeat which was similar to the one seized by the German police just few months ago.But,the one used in the explosion had two speakers whereas the one which was seized had only one speaker which clearly indicates that it was someone else who was responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
As the investigation went further, it was revealed that the explosion took place at the front cargo hold of the plane just below the "P" of the Pan Am.Also the level at which the explosion took place was known.It was now clear the bomb was kept at the second level of the front cargo hold of the plane.The investigators checked the passengers list and it was found that the passenger who checked in the Samsonite never boarded the flight.Pan Am 103 had luggage of a connecting flight from Frankfurt.Somehow,the suitcase carrying bomb slipped through the security at Heathrow.
The clothes that were found in the suitcase were made by a manufacturer who sold all of it in Malta.Investigators found the shop in Malta from where the clothes were purchased.According to the shopkeeper, a man with a Libyan accent had made the purchase of the clothes.It was a clear indication to everyone that sure enough,Libya was somehow involved in the bombing of Pan Am 103.
The circuit used in the bomb was matched with many different circuits by the investigators.But,none turn up.Then,AAIB investigator travelled to U.S. with the piece of circuit to take help of the NTSB. Sure enough,a perfect match to it was found by Bomb expert John Mcidull. The latter was seized from Libya,Africa.Upon further investigation,it came to the notice of the investigators that all of these type of circuits were sold to MEBO, a radio company and only high ranking officers had access to it. Finally,in 2002,after 14 years of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 a name came. Abdelbaset al Megrahi, a high ranking libyan official was found to be the prime suspect for the bombing of flight 103.He was found guilty whereupon he confessed his crime by adding that he had done this on the saying of Muammar Gaddafi, a Libyan leader colonel in 1999.
Even Pan Am was held responsible for the bombing.After Air India 182 bombing,passenger and luggage verification was made mandatory which Pan Am followed for sometime but stopped carrying out few months before the bombing.Pan Am went in debts and the airliner became bankrupt in due course of time.
"THE IRRESPONSIBILITY OF AN AIRLINER CLAIMED THE SOULS OF 270 INNOCENT PEOPLE.TODAY,THE MANGLED WRECKAGE OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 STANDS AT A HANGER IN FARMBROUGH,ENGLAND."
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| IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS |
Nice blog
ReplyDeleteGr8
Nice blog
ReplyDeleteGr8