It has been 30 years since the Lockerbie bombing.
December 21st, 1988 all 259 passengers and crew members on board the plane were killed as well as 11 people on the ground. It is the biggest terrorist attack ever to take place in Britain. At 19.02 a loud sound was recorded on the cockpit voice recorder; a bomb had gone off. The plane was at a height of approximately 31,000 feet when the bomb went off.
The explosion caused a 20-inch hole on the left side of the fuselage (main body of the plain). The nose of the plain was effectively blown straight off. The plane fell from the sky and the main part landed approximately four kilometres east of Lockerbie. The pieces of the plane were shattered and landed in an area covering roughly 850 square miles. 21 houses were burnt out and destroyed, the jet engine had detached and destroyed tarmac by the houses.
The impact was so strong that a body of a young girl and many others were found miles away in a farmer’s field. There was presents and luggage everywhere according to witnesses. The first body that was found was Lynne Hartunian, a 21-year-old student from New York. Then a baby and toddler were found. The child was Bryony Owen, travelling to the US with her mother Yvonne. They were later buried in a single coffin in a village in Wales.
18-month old girl Bryony Owen and her mother
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was an intelligence officer for the African country of Libya. He was charged with planning the bombing through he was always insisted he was innocent. It took over 12 years for him to be found guilty of planning the attack and he was sentenced to life in prison in Scotland. The Libyan government accepted responsibility for the bombings and said they believed the right man was in jail. He died in May 2012.
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Wreaths will be laid at a memorial garden in Lockerbie to honour the 270 people who were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up. A message from the queen marking the anniversary will also be read out at the memorial. Many of the people killed were Americans. The wreath-laying will see victims’ relatives join members of the community who assisted in the aftermath.
The Queen said: “Please convey my warm thanks to the people of Dumfriesshire for their kind message, sent on the occasion of their Remembrance service to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, which is being held today,”
“I send my prayers and good wishes to all those who will be marking this solemn anniversary.”
The 30th anniversary service was held at the FBI headquarters in Washington DC. A walk of peace will happen in Scotland, they will climb Burnswark hill in silence.
Scottish Secretary and local MP David Mundell said: “Lockerbie lost its anonymity that night. We went from a quiet small town to a centre of global attention in a few seconds.
“That was the scale of the challenge local people have faced, aside from the horrors of the air disaster itself. It has not been easy, nor have we been able to achieve the closure we would have wanted, even after 30 years.
“However, throughout, the people in Lockerbie have retained their dignity and stoicism, and offered friendship and support to those who lost loved ones.”
In May 2018, the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission (SCCRC) announced that a review of al-Megrahi’s conviction for the Lockerbie bombing is to be carried out.
