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Their son witnessed a fireball engulfing his home from a neighbour's garage, where he had been repairing his sister's bicycle. This place is special. [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. This had never been done in a Scottish court, said Tom McCulloch, who was a police officer with the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary when the Lockerbie air disaster occurred. So Laurie, Mary Lou, now 75, sister Michelle Lipkin, 47, and brother Frank, 51, made their first pilgrimage to meet the Connells in 1992. 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. [139] Interviewed by French newspaper Le Figaro on 7 December 2007, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi said that the seven Libyans convicted for the Pan Am Flight 103 and the UTA Flight 772 bombings "are innocent". "Later US intelligence officials confirmed that members of the group had been monitoring Pan Am's facilities at Frankfurt airport. His father, S. Frank Ciulla, was killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland. [150], In 1992, a US federal court found Pan Am guilty of willful misconduct due to lax security screening caused by not implementing baggage reconciliation, a new security program mandated by the FAA prior to the incident, which requires unaccompanied luggage to be searched by hand and to ensure passengers board flights onto which they have checked baggage; Pan Am relied more on the less-effective method of x-ray screening. For almost 30 years, a police officer who witnessed the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing has been haunted by a single incident from a night of horror. 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 259 people on board were killed, as well as 11 people in the town of . Lockerbie bombing suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi appeared in federal court in Washington, DC, on Monday, December 12. Shortly after finishing his longtime run at the job, Mas'ud was arrested and imprisoned in Misurata, Libya before being moved to Al-Hadba prison in Tripoli, which happened shortly after the fall of Colonel el-Qaddafi in 2011. He also made a vow to the families that their sons and daughters will be remembered at Syracuse University so long as any of us shall live and so long as the university shall stand.. . It was heartbreaking. In 2008, the UK government "decided to 'do all it could' to help the Libyans get Al-Megrahi home and explained the legal procedure for compassionate release to the Libyans."[94]. Something went wrong, please try again later. 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. 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. So much of what we ended up doing for 9/11 families and others has come from lessons learned from the Pan Am 103 families, she said. 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. 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. Investigators believed that two Libyan intelligence agents were responsible for the bombing; many speculated that the attack had been retaliation for a 1986 U.S. bombing campaign against Libyas capital city, Tripoli. 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. In September 2009, a third petition which was addressed to the President of the United Nations General Assembly demanded that the UN should "institute a full public inquiry" into the Lockerbie disaster. My children are now laying the groundwork as to how they want to approach this with their children, said Mary Kay Stratis, whose husband died on Pan Am Flight 103. Another 11 people died when the wreckage fell onto the Scottish town which gave the atrocity its name. El atentado de Lockerbie Vuelo 103 de Pan Am. 2023 Cable News Network. The bomb, constructed with the odourless plastic explosive Semtex, was hidden in a cassette player that was stored in a suitcase. In August 2009, he was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. On 2 September 2009, former MEP Michael McGowan demanded that the UK government call for an urgent, independent inquiry led by the UN to find out the truth about Pan Am flight 103. [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. [74][75][76], On 28 June 2007, the SCCRC announced its decision to refer Megrahi's case to the High Court for a second appeal against conviction. 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Pan Am 103 originated as a feeder flight at Frankfurt Airport, West Germany, using a Boeing 727 and the flight number PA103-A. [32][33] Matthew Gannon, the Central Intelligence Agency's deputy station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, was sitting in seat 14J, which is located in the business class (branded as "Clipper Class") cabin. Lockerbie bombing victims with the remaining 20% of the sum agreed in 2003; News.bbc.co.uk. On 5 December 1988 (16 days prior to the attack), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a security bulletin saying that, on that day, a man with an Arabic accent had telephoned the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, and told them that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States would be blown up within the next two weeks by someone associated with the Abu Nidal Organization; he said a Finnish woman would carry the bomb on board as an unwitting courier. Terrific heat, he recalled. [114], Prior to the abandonment of Megrahi's second appeal against conviction and while new evidence could be still tested in court, there had been few calls for an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing. As a new officer, he was assigned a 12-hour night shift securing the property store. Had his parents' bodies been recovered, the entire family would be buried there together. [168], The bombing of Flight 103 has been depicted in many documentaries, such as Air Crash Investigation and the BBC. It offered us so much comfort to know that he had been looked after.. News4's Derrick Ward reports about what that means for loved ones of some of the local victims. Today, present and former scholars number more than 1,000. As of 2008, the remaining wreckage of the aircraft was stored about a mile from Tattershall, Lincolnshire, at Roger Windley's scrapyard (53719.35N 01258.09W / 53.1220417N 0.2161361W / 53.1220417; -0.2161361 (Windley's Scrapyard)), pending the conclusion of the American victims' civil case and further legal proceedings. The aircraft did not acknowledge this message. [58] Gauci was shown the same magazine during his testimony at al-Megrahi's trial and asked if he had identified the photograph in April 1999 as being the person who purchased the clothing; he was then asked if that person was in the court. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The night of the disaster, Smith was at home with his father in Sherwood Crescent, settled in for what was supposed to be a quiet evening. In many ways, the reverberations are still being felt today. Megrahi's appeal against his conviction was refused on 14 March 2002, and his application to the European Court of Human Rights was declared inadmissible in July 2003. AP Photo/Scott Heppell . Kathryn Turman, assistant director of the FBIs Victim Services Division, at the time headed the Office for Victims of Crime at the Department of Justice and was asked to create an assistance plan for families of the victims during the trial. As we have also said, the absence of an explanation as to how the suitcase was taken into the system at Luqa is a major difficulty for the Crown case, but after taking full account of that difficulty, we remain of the view that the primary suitcase began its journey at Luqa. The signatories considered that a UN inquiry could help remove "many of the deep misgivings which persist in lingering over this tragedy" and could also eliminate Malta from this terrorist act. "[52] A deep-cover CIA agent was told by up to 15 high-level Syrian officials that the PFLP-GC was involved and that officials interacted with Jibril "on a constant basis". Ten of these students were from other universities and colleges (including but not limited to Colgate University and University of Colorado) with collaborative relationships with Syracuse. Clipper Maid of the Seas approached the corner of the Solway Firth at 19:01, and crossed the coast at 19:02 UTC. 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. They dont understand why we are reluctant to disclose information about the investigation.. And ever since, they have tenderly called him Our Boy. The family groups stated goals are to discover the truth about the bombing and to seek justice for their loved ones, to make sure the airline industry maintains and improves safety, to educate the public about Pan Am Flight 103, and to support one another. I don't know if many of us could have survived if we didn't have each other, said Glenn Johnson, a Pennsylvania resident whose 21-year-old daughter, Beth Ann, was killed in the bombing. Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi refused to turn over the two suspects. "Until we heard their story, I thought my dad had possibly had a fiery death, but he was relatively unmarked when he was found. Lockerbie bombing suspect to make first court appearance on Monday in Washington. (5 minutes) LOCKERBIE, ScotlandThe sky rained fire on a chill December night here in 1988. And Government files kept secret until now reveal that security service agents thought the families were getting organised and needed careful watching. People who lived . 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. More than 10,000 pieces of debris were retrieved, tagged, and entered into a computer tracking system. Listen to article. 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. [152], On 3 November 1995, then-US President Bill Clinton dedicated a Memorial Cairn to the victims at Arlington National Cemetery,[153] and there are similar memorials at Syracuse University; Dryfesdale Cemetery, near Lockerbie; and in Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie. . The same source claims that, following this, "the shaking stopped and to his surprise he was uninjured". SUNY Oswego also gives out scholarships in memorial of Colleen Brunner to a student who is studying abroad. Did you encounter any technical issues? Now, in their verdant peacefulness, they tell the story of a remarkable transatlantic friendship that blossomed out of a terrifying nightmare. October 2015: Two more suspects linked to Libya investigated. And another generation will be poised to keep the memories alive. All 259 people on board were killed . The documents are understood to relate to the Mebo MST-13 timer that allegedly detonated the PA103 bomb. Alan Dron. [50] Jalil claimed to possess "documents that prove [his allegations] and [that he is] ready to hand them over to the international criminal court. On board the aircraft were citizens of 21 countries, including 190 Americans. 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. But while they wept, tormented by their imagination of what had happened to 45-year-old Frank, thousands of miles away astonished farmers Margaret and Hugh Connell had discovered him six miles from the town in one of their fields still strapped to his seat, 11B, and almost unmarked. 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). It was like war for them, said Lockerbie resident Moira Shearer, speaking of the young soldiers who had never seen death before. Speaking after he arrived at Edinburgh Castle, Colin said: "I was thinking about Bryony today. [22] The CVR, located in the tail section of the aircraft, was found in a field by police searchers within 24 hours. [90][91][92] "[citation needed], "Flight 103" redirects here. We're trying to make our own little difference with the people in our lives., Weipz believes the goals of the family group and the university are essentially the same: to look back and forward at the same time to honor the victims. [71] Because three judges and one alternate judge had presided over the trial, five judges were required to preside over the Court of Criminal Appeal: Lord Cullen, Lord Justice-General, Lord Kirkwood, Lord Osborne, Lord Macfadyen, and Lord Nimmo Smith. In 1991, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was the assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice, and he was in charge of the Lockerbie investigation. The following day, a helicopter took Megrahi from Camp Zeist to continue his life sentence in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow. Megrahi's lawyer Maggie Scott expressed dismay at the delays: "There is a very serious danger that my client will die before the case is determined. Within days, the FrankfurtLondonNew YorkDetroit route was being served by Pan Am Flight 3 until the company's demise in 1991. Thirty-five students studying abroad with Syracuse University were struck down from the sky on Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988, along with 224 other passengers and eleven Lockerbie residents, victims of a terrorist bombing. After being released, Megrahi returned to Libya and received a jubilant welcome. 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. [60] Bollier claimed that in 1991 he had declined an offer of $4million from the FBI (equivalent to $7.2 million in 2021 dollars) in exchange for his support of the main line of inquiry, though this claim has never been verified. At 75, Richard Granat does not fit the stereotype of a startup entrepreneur. The application to the SCCRC followed the publication of two reports in February 2001 and March 2002 by Hans Kchler, who had been an international observer at Camp Zeist, appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. [123], Quotes: "[Jalil] told Expressen Khadafy [sic] gave the order to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground on 21 December 1988. "[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. Inside the chapel at Dryfesdale there is a book of remembrance. It is believed that, following his release, Al-Megrahi was prescribed abiraterone and prednisone, a combination that extends median survival by an average of 14.8 months. [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. Heres what you need to know about the deadliest terrorist attack to have taken place in the United Kingdom. Mum had been so worried about him dying alone in the cold of the Scottish countryside. Forty-six seconds after the bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 detonated, the aircraft's wings hit Sherwood Crescent, close to Mr Giesecke's Park Place home, at 500mph, disintegrating on impact and leaving . A family of four was killed when their house at 15 Sherwood Crescent exploded. For many, including 35 students from Syracuse University who had been studying abroad, it was a much-anticipated homecoming, a reunion with family and friends in time for the holidays. August 2003: UN sanctions lifted against Libya after Tripoli accepts blame and compensates families. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by Clipper Maid of the Seas, a Boeing 747-121 registered N739PA. Some of the destruction caused by Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed onto the town of Lockerbie in Scotland, on 21st December 1988. [136], On 24 February 2004, Libyan Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem stated in a BBC Radio 4 interview that his country had paid the compensation as the "price for peace" and to secure the lifting of sanctions. Read about our approach to external linking. "Some families want cash, others say it is blood money", said a State Department official. Now retired, the 48-year-old is one of five men representing the emergency services who are taking part in a transatlantic fundraising bike ride to mark the 30th anniversary. 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.. 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. 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. In a matter of hours, thousands of police officers, firefighters, military personnel, and other volunteers converged on rural Lockerbie. Dr Jim Swire, 82, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing, said: We deserve to know who murdered our loved ones and why it was not prevented.. Their brother Frank decided his children, both under 10, were too young. [citation needed], Prominent among the passenger victims was the 50-year-old UN Commissioner for Namibia (then South West Africa), Bernt Carlsson, who would have attended the signing ceremony of the New York Accords at the UN headquarters the following day. About 7:00 pm on December 21, Pan Am flight 103, a Boeing 747 en route to New York City from . I am one of the signatories. [138], In the wake of the SCCRC's June 2007 decision, there have been suggestions that, if Megrahi's second appeal had been successful and his conviction had been overturned, Libya could have sought to recover the $2.16billion compensation paid to the relatives. About 7:00 pm on December 21, Pan Am flight 103, a Boeing 747 en route to New York City from London, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. [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.

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