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. Over three years, investigators from the United States, Britain, Germany and other countries questioned more than 15,000 people in more than 30 countries and collected thousands of pieces of evidence. They were laid to rest in a single coffin in the West Wales village of Pendine, Carmarthenshire. 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. [151], There are several private and public memorials to the PA103 victims. It was a place where family members were shielded from the inquiring media and where U.S. and Scottish personnelsome police investigators who had worked on the case years beforeacted as family liaison officers, providing support from the moment family members walked in the door.. Two hundred and fifty-nine people on board the New York-bound Boeing . But it . 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. Megrahi's lawyers applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) on 23 September 2003 to have his case referred back to the Court of Criminal Appeal for a fresh appeal against conviction. Read about our approach to external linking. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 December 21, 1988 sent a shock wave around the world. The blast broke the plane into thousands of pieces that landed in an area covering roughly 850 square miles (2,200 square km). 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. The U.S. arrest of Libyan man Abu Agila Mas'ud accused of making the bomb that exploded on board Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 has renewed attention on the incident. The rear fuselage of the plane, where many of them sat, destroyed one of the houses of Rosebank Crescent, 71 Park Place, the home of Lockerbie resident Ella Ramsden, who survived. The Connells had even asked to take dad in to the warm but were told they couldnt because evidence was still being collected. [120] On 1 November 2009, it was reported that Gordon Brown had ruled out a public inquiry into Lockerbie, saying in response to Dr Swire's letter: "I understand your desire to understand the events surrounding the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 but I do not think it would be appropriate for the UK government to open an inquiry of this sort." [95] As reported on 29 August, he had been located and both the Scottish government and council issued a statement confirming that they had been in contact with his family and that his licence had not been breached. That was a tall order, considering that assisting federal crime victims at all was a fairly new concept. Like many of his colleagues, the case consumed every minute of his professional life. Scottish police had also failed to inform the defence that another witness had testified seeing Libyan men making a similar purchase on a different day. "It was a young child under the age of five. It looked as though they were asleep, it wasn't obviously injured, and it was just a shock to realise it was a passenger from Pan Am 103. [15], On its arrival at Heathrow Terminal 3 on the day of the disaster, the passengers and their luggage (as well as an unaccompanied suitcase which was part of the interline luggage on the feeder flight) were transferred directly to Clipper Maid of the Seas, whose previous flight had originated in Los Angeles and arrived via San Francisco. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The fuselage continued moving forward and down until it reached 19,000ft (5,800m), when its dive became nearly vertical. I think the bigger message is that this was an act of terrorism. The Libyan intelligence operative arrested last month for allegedly building the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 above Lockerbie, Scotland, more than 34 years ago was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Washington, D.C., but family members expressed that they've had trouble securing a defense attorney, according to a report.. Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi's arraignment was . On scope, the aircraft showed transponder code, or "squawk", 0357 and flight level 310. While no doubt organisations such as the PFLP-GC and the PPSF were also engaged in terrorist activities during the same period, we are satisfied that there was no evidence from which we could infer that they were involved in this particular act of terrorism, and the evidence relating to their activities does not create a reasonable doubt in our minds about the Libyan origin of this crime.[70]. The clothes were traced to a Maltese merchant, Tony Gauci, who became a key prosecution witness, testifying that he sold the clothes to a man of Libyan appearance. At 75, Richard Granat does not fit the stereotype of a startup entrepreneur. Transcript of the proceedings of the Scottish court in the Netherlands 2001, day 86. Although the students remained silent during the ceremony, many cried and hugged one another as the 35 minutes concluded. Four days before Christmas in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded 31,000 feet above Scotland. 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. French investigative journalist Pierre Pan accused Thomas Thurman, a Federal Bureau of Investigation explosives expert, of fabricating false evidence against Libya in both the Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772 sabotages. Pan Am 103 originated as a feeder flight at Frankfurt Airport, West Germany, using a Boeing 727 and the flight number PA103-A. [38] The bodies of both 15 Sherwood Crescent children and both 16 Sherwood Crescent parents were never recovered. Now, in their verdant peacefulness, they tell the story of a remarkable transatlantic friendship that blossomed out of a terrifying nightmare. But at Arlington National Cemetery this year, some of their grandchildren will be in attendance. The bomb, constructed with the odourless plastic explosive Semtex, was hidden in a cassette player that was stored in a suitcase. In addition to the families of the victims, there were 50 senior Pan Am pilots and military veterans who were uniquely impacted by this bombing. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. On Dalkamoni's account bombs made by Khreesat were at large somewhere. Theres a saying that the dead are still with us as long as someone speaks their name, Turman said. The Boeing 747, known as the Clipper Maid of the Seas, left London Heathrow with 243 passengers and 16 crew members, including 189 Americans. Gauci then identified al-Megrahi for the court, stating, "He is the man on this side. The following day, a helicopter took Megrahi from Camp Zeist to continue his life sentence in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow. Another theory suggests the CIA prevented the suitcase containing the bomb from being searched. As Megrahi had only been in Malta on 7 December, that date was assumed to be the purchase date. "[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. During Remembrance Week, all the scholars speak for the victims during a rose-laying ceremony at a memorial in the center of campus. Everybody wanted to do something to help.. 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. "[20]:16 This field, located opposite Tundergarth Church, is where the wreckage most easily identified with images of the accident in the media fell, having fallen "almost flat on its left side, but with a slight nose-down attitude. Two of Pan Am's subsidiaries, Alert Management Inc., which handles Pan Am's security at foreign airports, and Pan American World Services, were also found guilty. His father, S. Frank Ciulla, was killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland. 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. On Sunday, the US Justice Department said that Masud was in US custody. Airlines bent over backwards to book people on overnight flights. For the families of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Lockerbie and its residents will forever hold a place in their hearts. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. The CIA and FBI said the suspects, employed by Libyan Arab Airlines in Malta, were also Libyan intelligence agents. File photo from December 22, 1988 shows rescue personnel carrying a body . [141] On 14 August 2008, a US-Libya compensation deal was signed in Tripoli by US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch and Libya's Foreign Ministry head of America affairs, Ahmed al-Fatroui. 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. Most Americans were awakened to the reality of terrorism on September 11, 2001, but more than a decade earlier, a few days before Christmas in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, bound to New York from London and carrying mainly U.S. citizens, was blown out of the sky by a terrorist bomb over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie. This is a place that offers us comfort and such a special bond with the couple who found him, says tragic banker Frank Ciullas daughter Laurie Ciulla, mum of three of his grandchildren. It was such an extreme, intense moment.". And its still happening.. The planes wings, along with tanks carrying 100 tons of jet fuel, plummeted into Lockerbies Sherwood Crescent neighborhood, creating an inferno and a crater more than 150 feet deep that registered miles away as a seismic event. After 30 years, some of the founding members of the family group have died, others have grown old. [99][100], According to The New York Times, Mas'ud was born in Tunisia in 1951, before he became a citizen of Libya as a child after he moved to Tripoli, Libya. the Lockerbie bombing killed . Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. holds one of its annual meetings during Remembrance Week, and every year FBI and Scottish investigators and prosecutors brief the group on the status of the case. ", "Libyan Parliament calls for urgent investigation into Masud's extradition to US", "Libya Admits Culpability In Crash of Pan Am Plane", Security Council lifts sanctions imposed on Libya after terrorist bombings of Pan Am 103 and UTA 772, Statement by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Speakes on the Gulf of Sidra Incident, "NBC's Mitchell Regurgitates Gaddafi Lies", "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 N54629 Tnr desert", "The best tribute to the 270 victims of Lockerbie is to find out the truth", "Petition to set up public inquiry into Lockerbie", "Petition to UN General Assembly to open Pan Am 103 inquiry", "Malta asked to support demands for UN inquiry on Lockerbie", "Lockerbie families lobby Gordon Brown for public inquiry", "Lockerbie inquiry ruled out by Gordon Brown", "Khadaffi gav order om Lockerbie-attentatet", "Gaddafi accused of ordering Lockerbie bombing", "Qaddafi's Son Is Alive. [30][31], Aboard the flight were U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) Special Agents Daniel Emmett O'Connor and Ronald Albert Lariviere. Mebo's owner, Edwin Bollier, testified at the trial that the Scottish police had originally shown him a fragment of a brown eight-ply circuit board from a prototype timer which had never been supplied to Libya. [97], In 2020, US authorities indicted Libyan national, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, for participating in the bombing. In many ways, the reverberations are still being felt today. Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom, as well as its deadliest aviation disaster.[2]. The couple then kept watch over him for 24 hours and even asked rescue teams if they could take him into their home, away from the biting cold. [101] Beginning at the age of 22 in 1973, he began working with bombs for the Libyan intelligence service for the next 38 years. What are the grounds for compassionate leave from prison? Mum had been so worried about him dying alone in the cold of the Scottish countryside. [134] The Libyan government then proceeded to pay compensation to each family of US$8million (from which legal fees of about US$2.5million were deducted) and, as a result, the UN cancelled the sanctions that had been suspended four years earlier, and US trade sanctions were lifted. [citation needed], Patrick Keegans, Lockerbie's Roman Catholic priest, was preparing to visit friends around 7:00 that evening with his mother, having recently been appointed a parish priest of the town. Two hundred and fifty-nine people on board the New York-bound Boeing 747 were killed, along with 11 people on the ground. Five years later, on December 21, 2020,US Attorney General William Barr announced criminal charges against former Libyan intelligence officer Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi in relation to the Lockerbie attack. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Other requirements included a formal denunciation of terrorismwhich Libya said it had already madeand "accepting responsibility for the actions of its officials". Karen Gass was 26 years old at the time. 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. The trigger for the explosion was an MST-13 timer of the single solder mask variety. Megrahi was released on licence, so was obliged to remain in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch reassembled a large part of the fuselage to aid with the investigation; this has been retained as evidence and stored in a hangar at Farnborough Airport since the bombing. On December 21, Pan Am 103 was beginning the second leg of its Frankfurt-London-New York-Detroit route. It was the first time the FBI was involved working with other agencies, with other governments, to investigate and eventually resolve a major international terrorist attack against Americans, said Dick Marquise, the retired FBI agent who initially led the Bureaus investigation and who still cares deeply about the case. Some of the 196 bodies found so far did contain shrapnel, he said. [88][89] On 20 August 2009, Megrahi was released from prison and travelled by chartered jet to Libya. All 259 people on board were killed, and 11 individuals on the ground also died. Demands for such an inquiry emerged later, and became more insistent. [112], In turn, the US encouraged the Chadian National Armed Forces (FANT) and it also aided them by supplying them with satellite intelligence during the Battle of Maaten al-Sarra. Act as a Spokesperson In case of an emergency, one person should take primary responsibility to speak on behalf of the entire organization to eliminate conflicting messages and to prevent the spread of misinformation. The clear inference which we draw from this evidence is that the conception, planning and execution of the plot which led to the planting of the explosive device was of Libyan origin. I look forward to hearing your comments both to our group's letter and to the contents of this one. "I now know the person I need to remember. A Warner Bros. The bombing, believed to be carried out by Libyan intelligence officers in retaliation for U.S. actions against then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was a transformative event for the FBI, one that changed the way the Bureau investigates terrorism and assists victims of crimes. [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. Back then, these wreckage-littered fields six miles outside the Scottish town bore witness to the horrifying bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 in the skies above. Of the 270 total fatalities, 190 were American citizens and 43 were British citizens. 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.