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THE IRISH NAVY today marked the 30th anniversary of Air India Flight 182.
At 8.13am on the 23 June 1985, Air India Flight 182 exploded just off the coast of Cork.
The Boeing 747-237B, was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of 9,400 metres and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace.
All 329 passengers and crew were killed – including 280 Canadians, 27 British citizens and 22 Indians. The flight had over 80 children on board.
131 bodies were recovered from the sea. It was one of the biggest operations in the history of the State to recover the bodies which was undertaken by the Irish Navy.
The L.É. AISLING navy ship, under the command of Lieutenant Commander James Robinson, was one of the first vessels on scene.
The Irish Navy Service said it immediately began the grim process of a search and recovery operation.
After 24 hours, the L.É. AISLING had recovered 38 victims from shark infested waters and four of the Ship’s Company, Lt Cdr James Robinson, Petty Officer Seaman Mossie Mahon, Leading Seaman John Mc Grath and Able Seaman Terry Browne would be awarded Distinguished Service Medals for their actions during that operation.
The RAF, the Royal Navy and lots of locals also helped with the search and rescue attempts. It was one of the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history.
Flight 182 was en route from Toronto to Delhi, with a stopover in London. However, while in Irish airspace the aircraft disappeared off radar.
Initially it was not known what the cause of the accident was, but it was soon determined that a bomb was planted on board.
This morning an Irish Naval vessel held a one minutes silence by a long blast on the ships horn to commence a period of quiet contemplation by the visiting relatives of the victims and those who assisted in the recovery operation.
The Irish Navy Service said that many of the victim’s relatives congregated in the small village called Ahakista in West Cork, which was the nearest point of land to the crash site.
Since that terrible day, the families have made an annual pilgrimage to the shoreline memorial to remember the disaster. The support and compassion extended to the pilgrims each year by the Irish people has been a sustaining influence on those affected by the terrorist attack.
Our thoughts, prayers and support are with the families at this time.
Air India / TwitterOn the 30th memorial anniversary of the #AI 182 #KanishkaBombing tragedy, #AirIndia pays #tribute to the 329 pax who lost their lives.
— Air India (@airindia) June 21, 2015
RTÉ / Twitter#OnThisDay 1985: @RTEArchives looks back at the Air India Boeing 747 crash off the Kerry coast http://t.co/jvuKixFkCK pic.twitter.com/2RoXsuXVjB
— RTÉ (@rte) June 23, 2015
Five months after the explosion, two suspects were arrested, however, just one man was charged, Inderjit Singh Reyat, a Canadian national.
He pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for building the bombs that exploded aboard Flight 182 and at Japan’s Narita Airport. Last year he lost his appeal.
In 2006 an inquiry into the bombing was launching by the Canadian Commission into the bombing of Air India Flight 182.
The final report was released 2010, and found there was a series of errors that resulted in intelligence reports of possible terror threats not being acted upon.
Every year, a remembrance ceremony is held in Cork at the memorial garden and sundial in Ahakista in County Cork.
The sundial was sculpted by Cork sculptor Ken Thompson and was donated by the people of Canada, India and Ireland.
Last night award-winning Canadian poet, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, spoke at the West Cork Arts Centre. Saklikar lost her aunt and uncle on the Air India flight.
Speaking to the Southern Star Newspaper she said her family will never forget the compassionate care given to us by the people of Cork, in the days just after the bombing.
First published 06.03am
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i was working on the oil rig High seas driller off the coast that day.the helicopters were landing on the helideck all day to refuel.we were bringing the crews food and drinks but most of them were ashen faced and shocked.very few words spoken that day,horrific
15 years for building a bomb that killed 329 people ?? And I taught our sentences were ridiculous !
Why was he prosecuted for manslaughter, surely bombing an aircraft is murder?
It would be, considering Al Migrahi was charged with mass murder for Lockerbie (also a 747)
@Vocal Outrage
Probably because it wouldn’t have been possible to make murder charges stick, i.e. he supplied the parts for the bomb and he might have been successful in claiming that he didn’t believe that the bomb would be used to destroy an aircraft during its flight (By the way, I believe that he knew that it would be used to destroy the aircraft to kill hundreds of people but, unfortunately, in a criminal case, it’s about proving the charges beyond reasonable doubt).
The Canadian authorities missed opportunities to prevent the attack and they also failed to bring all of the perpetrators to justice.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/18/us-airindia-idUSTRE68H1W220100918
I suspect that I will get many red thumbs for my post but I’m simply answering your question in a dispassionate manner.
I was a junior radiographer in Cork, just one year post qualification. I had been in Dublin for the weekend and hadn’t seen or heard any news so I was very confused when I came in to work on Monday to see Garrett Fitzgerald arrive and to see so many Indian nationals. I learned of the disaster in minutes. Through that day and the next the more senior radiographers were asked to xray the bodies for dental records or the children’s wrists for bone age. Dr Harbison, the state pathologist arrived and wanted all the bodies xrayed to record their injuries. On Wednesday and Thursday evening and Friday afternoon we closed all but two xray rooms and used the remainder to xray the bodies through the plastic body bags. We were gowned and masked and it was like a conveyer system, logging each body by number. The babies fit on a single large xray cassette. I will never forget that week as long as I live…
My grandfather was the health inspector at the time in cork
My mother used to tell us that he spent months on end dealing with this case and was rarely home.
Said he never got over some of the stuff he seen
He spoke of it on his own deathbed that what he was suffering now was nothing compared to what they had to go through.
Affected a lot of people at the time
Ian, I was working in Cork Regional Hospital at the time as a radiographer. I will never forget xraying all the bodies.
30 years on and world still is same place..bombs going off, people getting killed, planes disappearing….
And there are even more amazing and wonderful things happening, have a look around. The media doesn’t report these but just look around you.
‘Muuuricah…..fu
What has this got to do with America?
Why didn’t the article mention sharks once?
The headline bore no relationship with the body of the text.
Shoddy s h i t t y journalism trying to grab headlines
there are skarks there, but far from shark infested!
John M – Probably because the headline was changed when it first appeared early this morning – ’30 years on, families remember Flight 182 explosion off Cork coast’ and then bumped up the article list. I’d say most of the families today are remembering their loved ones, not the ‘explosion’ and equally I doubt the shores 100 miles off the coast are ‘shark infested.’ This is the Irish coast, not Western Australia.
and none are man eaters.
Remember hearing it like it was yesterday…still as harrowing today as it was back then
I remember as a kid being up in Cork airport surrounded by soldiers and watching the helicopters coming and going.
For those who don’t know, sharks attacked the bodies. Three Irish sailors, who got the DSM on that day, risked their lives in those waters recovering bodies with a RIB. Unbelievably, some of those who fell from 35,000 feet died from drowning. R.I.P.
have your say