At 19:03 on Thursday, December 21, 1988, an American airliner exploded mid-air and crashed in the tiny village of Lockerbie, Scotland. Located in Dumfries and Galloway County, Lockerbie is accessible by a major highway, the A74(M). Nearby, there are a train station, a park (King Edward) and a golf course. The Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation began shortly thereafter.
The peaceful, unassuming little town was never to be the same. Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was en route to New York City. Originating in Frankfurt, Germany, with a stop at London's Heathrow Airport to drop off and pick up passengers. At three minutes past seven that Thursday evening, Flight 103 exploded over the tiny village, killing 259 people, as well as 11 people on the ground. The explosion left a six-mile trail of destruction on the ground.
Three days before the incident, on December 18, American embassies in Finland and Russia had circulated warnings threats that had been received of a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States planned to be the target of a terrorist attack. While the airline was made aware of the threats, as were the relevant police departments, the threat was not made public. People who were intending to board the aircraft in London but who didn't make it were an Indian mechanic, Jaswant Basuta (who was, for a while, a suspect in the bombing), American singing group, the Four Tops, and Pik Botha, the foreign minister for South Africa.
Records showed that an unaccompanied piece of luggage had been routed from Malta to Frankfurt, where it was loaded onto the feeder flight to London, Pan Am 103A. Police later discovered that the only person ever convicted of the bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, had also boarded that same flight. This was believed to be the suitcase that contained the bomb. Security was later tightened at small airports all around the world.
Careful searches of the local area during the investigation revealed almost sixty pieces of a suitcase that had evidence of extreme bomb damage. A circuit board, believed to have been part of the bomb, was located wrapped in a kid's t-shirt that was purchased in Malta. At first, when the shopkeeper in Malta was questioned as to who purchased the shirt, he said it was al-Megrahi. He later recanted this claim.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was tried in a neutral country, the Netherlands, under Scottish law. This was because the offense occurred in Scotland. The trial began in 2000 and concluded in 2001.
The trial went on for nine months, after which the Libyan national was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 27 years. He was revealed to be suffering from prostate cancer in 2008 and released from prison and flown home to Libya on compassionate grounds by then Scottish Justice, Kenny MacAskill. This was an extremely controversial move, causing anger on both sides of the Atlantic. Rubbing salt into the wound, his countrymen in Libya greeted him as a hero.
The Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation was led by Chief Inspector Watson McAteer and John Orr of Scotland. On the American team were Lawrence Whittaker, Robert Muller, Vincent Cannistraro and James Shaughnessy. One year after the crash, the investigation had amassed 35,000 photographs, 15,000 statements and 12,700 name cards. Investigators had traveled to 13 countries.
The peaceful, unassuming little town was never to be the same. Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was en route to New York City. Originating in Frankfurt, Germany, with a stop at London's Heathrow Airport to drop off and pick up passengers. At three minutes past seven that Thursday evening, Flight 103 exploded over the tiny village, killing 259 people, as well as 11 people on the ground. The explosion left a six-mile trail of destruction on the ground.
Three days before the incident, on December 18, American embassies in Finland and Russia had circulated warnings threats that had been received of a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States planned to be the target of a terrorist attack. While the airline was made aware of the threats, as were the relevant police departments, the threat was not made public. People who were intending to board the aircraft in London but who didn't make it were an Indian mechanic, Jaswant Basuta (who was, for a while, a suspect in the bombing), American singing group, the Four Tops, and Pik Botha, the foreign minister for South Africa.
Records showed that an unaccompanied piece of luggage had been routed from Malta to Frankfurt, where it was loaded onto the feeder flight to London, Pan Am 103A. Police later discovered that the only person ever convicted of the bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, had also boarded that same flight. This was believed to be the suitcase that contained the bomb. Security was later tightened at small airports all around the world.
Careful searches of the local area during the investigation revealed almost sixty pieces of a suitcase that had evidence of extreme bomb damage. A circuit board, believed to have been part of the bomb, was located wrapped in a kid's t-shirt that was purchased in Malta. At first, when the shopkeeper in Malta was questioned as to who purchased the shirt, he said it was al-Megrahi. He later recanted this claim.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was tried in a neutral country, the Netherlands, under Scottish law. This was because the offense occurred in Scotland. The trial began in 2000 and concluded in 2001.
The trial went on for nine months, after which the Libyan national was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 27 years. He was revealed to be suffering from prostate cancer in 2008 and released from prison and flown home to Libya on compassionate grounds by then Scottish Justice, Kenny MacAskill. This was an extremely controversial move, causing anger on both sides of the Atlantic. Rubbing salt into the wound, his countrymen in Libya greeted him as a hero.
The Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation was led by Chief Inspector Watson McAteer and John Orr of Scotland. On the American team were Lawrence Whittaker, Robert Muller, Vincent Cannistraro and James Shaughnessy. One year after the crash, the investigation had amassed 35,000 photographs, 15,000 statements and 12,700 name cards. Investigators had traveled to 13 countries.
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