As the 30th anniversary of the terror attack approaches, those who were there at the time have described the scene in harrowing detail. We could tell from the distribution of the wreckage.. We knew it was a small device so why had it brought down a large plane?. 'What they have achieved is so uplifting and I will never forget these wonderful people. (SU-Western Maryland), Bryony Elise Owen, 18 months, Bristol, England. Thirty-three years on from Britain's deadliest terrorist attack, a retired soldier has described the "surreal" scenes he faced as the search for victims and wreckage unfolded in the hours following the Lockerbie bombing. 0. The pair were buried together. I showed her exactly where I'd found her and she was very grateful I could explain what happened that night. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' It could have been a structural problem but then we started to find bits with characteristic damage on them shrapnel and jagged edges. Getty Images. Lockerbie is changed. The mid section remainsat the HQ of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough, Eight lorries were used to transport the parts of the plane from a base near Carlisle to the scrapyard near Lincoln. The further we got from the cockpit the worse it got. The image of a young dark-haired woman, dressed in a blue sweater and lying face down on his garden hedge, is one that for Peter Giesecke not even 30 years can diminish. From the places of the crash, the investigation, the cleaning up and the victims. There was no sign of life. Many of the victims were American college students flying home for Christmas, including 35 Syracuse University students participating in a study abroad program. It caused a bit of a stir. He added: Im proud to have been a part of it and part of the AAIB. Lorraine Frances Halsch, 31, Fairport, N.Y. Lynn Hartunian, 21, who was a student at SUNY Oswego, was one of the passengers killed on Pan Am Flight 103. Pan Am Flight 103. One man was sitting upright in the field. Mr Dorrance said it looked as if she was just sleeping. No more clothes on his body .". Diane Marie Rencevicz, 21, Burlington, N.J. Louise Ann Rogers, 20, Olney, Md. The Boeing 747 was heading for New York when it blew up about half an hour after taking off from Heathrow. He added: 'The garden and the area had all been cleaned up by then. At the height the plane had been flying, winds were more than 100 knots. The crash occurred decades ago, I think first off let's refresh the setting for the crash as we. It was a bit like clearing a passage in a mine. Nothing that big had landed at Carlisle before. Last picture of Paul Walker alive, before getting into the porsche that crashed. The cockpit had been ripped from the rest of the jet during the bomb blast. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. The 270 victims killed in the bombing of Pan American flight 103 came from many walks of life and 21 countries and ranged from 2 months to 82 years old. Mary Edna Smith, Army sergeant, 34, Kalamazoo, Mich. Lyndsey ann Somerville, 10, Lockerbie, Scotland, Rosaleen Later Somerville, 40, Lockerbie, Scotland, Geraldine Anne Stevenson, 37, Surrey, England, Hannah Louise Stevenson, 10, Surrey, England, John Charles Stevenson, 38, Surrey, England, Charlotte Ann Stinnett,36, Duncanville, Texas, Michael Gary Stinnett, Army specialist, 26, Duncanville, Texas, Stacey Leanne Stinnett, 9, Duncanville, Texas, Flora Margaret Swire, 24, London, England. Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001. I had a 10-month-old son at home. The woman looked at me and said 'I believe my daughter Lindsey was found in your garden. (SU), Daniel Solomon Browner (BIER), 23, Parod, Israel, Colleen Renee Brunner, 20, Hamburg, N.Y. (SUNY Oswego). You get on and do the job.. I was getting paid but they gave up holidays to help us. And the work done by his team has led to lifesaving advances in aircraft technology. Lockerbie residents: Kathleen Flannigan, Thomas Flannigan, Joanne Flannigan, Dora Henry, Maurice Henry, Mary Lancaster, Jean Murray, John Somerville, Rosaleen Somerville, Paul Somerville, Lyndsey Somerville. Steve said: We took 25ft either side of the blast to analyse. Bryony Owen and her mum Yvonne, pictured above, had been travelling from their home in Wales to Boston. (SU) designates a Syracuse University student or a student of another institution enrolled in SU's overseas study program. Workers cover the body of a victim of Pan Am flight 103 . Caitlin Lockerbie is a worldwide Famous American reporter, television presenter, and journalist. (SU-Maryland Inst. The 259 people on board the New York-bound Boeing 747 are killed, along . Doing our thing is a technical investigation on how fast the aeroplane broke up, but the police were thinking about who was responsible. The 58-year-old said the hairs on the back of his neck still stand up when he thinks about some of the things he found when going through the wreckage including a tape player with this voice of an American victim. "It was . All 259 passengers and crew died along with 11 others on the ground who were killed by falling debris. If they want to go on to the Main Commemoration, they will be most welcome.x text. A cairn is a traditional Scottish monument honoring the dead. of Art). The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Megrahi is freed after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. It remains out of sight from the road in a wooded area (right), The surviving pieces of the Boeing 747 craft, which were reassembled in a warehouse show the what the Pan Am plane looked like before it was blown apart in the air. Raymond Ronald Wagner, 52, Pennington, N.J. Jonathan White, 33, North Hollywood, Calif. Suzanne Miazga, a Syracuse University student, was killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. CHILLING photographs show where the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 are kept 30 years after the Lockerbie Bombing. Lorry driver Mark Herridge recalled how the search parties rushed to the scene to try and fund survivors including himself and his brother-in-law Brian Mawson, just 21 and 20 at the time. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. He was jailed for 27 years but died of prostate cancer aged 60 in 2012 after being released on compassionate grounds in 2009. The blast had left wreckage strewn over a huge area around the spot where the plane had hit the ground. It has been an absolute privilege for me to find so much good in all these people who lost loved ones, and to learn their stories. Mr Herridge's search party found the body of three-year-old Sur-uchi Rattan who died along with mother Garima Rattan, and brother Anmol, two. A later fatal accident inquiry was to determine that the bomb was in a Toshiba radio-cassette player in a Samsonite suitcase which 'probably' joined the flight at Frankfurt in Germany. Walker's body is still fairly intact. Steve was one of the first investigators on the scene, Heartbroken mum of Lockerbie victim reveals how locals gave her precious memento of her tragic son, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Katherine Augusta Hollister, 20, Rego Park, N.Y. Josephine Lisa Hudson, 22, London, England, Sophie Ailette Miriam Hudson, 26, Paris, France, Elizabeth Sophie Ivell, 19, East Sussex, England. Patricia Mary Coyle, 20, Wallingford, Conn. John Binning Cummock, 38, Coral Gables, Fla. Joseph Patrick Curry, Army captain, 31, Fort Devens, Mass. The mangled wreckage of the Boeing 747 which exploded over Lockerbie is in Lincolnshire in a scrapyard. Bernt Wilson Carlsson, 50, New York, N.Y. Richard Anthony Cawley, 43, New York, N.Y. Steve was seven years into his career with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch when the disaster happened. Britain and the US accuse Libyans Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khailifa Fhimah of the bombing. But despite the violence of the explosion, the victims bodies were still preserved inside the severed section. It was clear it was in the cargo hold and the blast damage was quite obvious when you looked at it.. Previously unseen photographs, taken by Mr Giesecke the morning after the incident and published today in the Scottish Mail on Sunday, show the extent of the destruction to the quiet neighbourhood in which he still lives on the eastern edge of the town. At each location, a moment of silence will be observed and a wreath laid. A reviewof Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's conviction for the bombing is to be carried out by the Scottish Criminal Cases Commission, The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission says there was no criminality in the Megrahi case. You had to pick your way into it, bit by bit, to get at it.. A ir-traffic controller Alan Topp sat with his eyes fixed to the radar screen, watching the white marker indicating that Pan Am Flight 103, which had taken off from London's Heathrow airport 27 minutes before, had crossed into Scottish airspace on its voyage across the Atlantic to New York. 'We formed a line across the field. The splintered parts of the aircraft were transferred there in eight lorry loads from an Army base at Longtown near Carlisle after being painstakingly sorted through. This site is the official homepage of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. Last night, Mr Giesecke recalled the moment the families met for the first time, saying: 'About a year after the bombing, I remember working in my garden when I saw a couple standing uncertainly on the pavement outside my gate. We could hear something whistling, so we went inside. Elizabeth Lillian Marek, 30, New York, N.Y. Louis Anthony Marengo, 33, Rochester, Mich. Diane Marie Maslowski, 30, New York, N.Y. William John McAllister, 26, Middlesex, England, Lilibeth Tobila McAlolooy, 27, Kelsterback, West Germany. Anne Linidsey Otenasek, 21, Baltimore, Md. Al-Megrahi was controversially allowed to return to Libya before his deatg. Steve said: We needed to make sense of it and I was allocated to the cockpit to see what clues it might give. Michael Stuart Bernstein, 36, Bethesda, Md. We could hear the bang from three miles away and could see the mushroom from the explosion. Daniel Emmet McCarthy, 31, Brooklyn, N.Y. Charles Dennis McKee, Army major, 40, Arlington Hall Station, Va. Bernard Joseph McLaughlin, 30, Cranston, R.I. Jane Susan Melber, 27, Middlesex, England. of Art). I couldn't look at any of their faces. Ian spent Christmas Day after the first anniversary with Betty Thomas, mother of victim Yvonne Owen, 29, and grandmother to Bryony, aged 20 months. of Colo.), Frederick Sandford, Philliips, 27, Little Rock, Ark. He was jailed for 27 years but died of prostate cancer aged 60 in 2012 after being released on compassionate grounds in 2009. Chilling images of the wrecked plane which blew apart over Lockerbie 30 years ago have emerged as the mangled metal still lays in a Lincolnshire scrapyard. The defence's claim that he is the victim of an injustice essentially rests on the argument that it was not. EAST MORICHES, N.Y. (AP) -- The bodies of a pilot and flight engineer from. ', Policemen and firemen look at the scene of devastation in Lockerbie on December22 - hours after the incident in 1988, The Lockerbie disaster where a giant crater was blown in the ground after the bomb went off in the air, Homes were destroyed after the plane was attacked and debris came hurtling down to the ground in Britain's worst terror attack in 1988, Mourners attend a service commemorating the Lockerbie bombing, in Drysdale Cemetary near the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 2008, An engine came crashing down and blasted a hole in the pavement, narrowly missing a row of homes. He was jailed for 27 years. Owned by the Nickum and Holstein families, Mr. Riley lived there as a guest from 1893 until his death in 1916. Irving Stanley Sigal, 35, Pennington, N.J. Cynthia Joan Smith, 21, Milton, Mass. Patricia Kane For The Scottish Mail On Sunday Lockerbie farmer Kate Anderson has told the Mirror how 98 bodies rained down on her land. Its like being a policeman or a fireman. Another officer, Colin Dorrance only found out this year the identity of Bryony Owen, Betty's granddaughter. After finding the spot where the explosion had happened, the team checked loading records to establish when individual pieces of cargo had been put onto the plane. The 28th of October is a date that illustrates what Lockerbie is all about. As it came down it exploded in a fireball made worse by ruptured gas mains. A total of 270 people, including young children and students, died in the air and on the ground in the 1988 attack. Speaking for the first time since the immediate aftermath of the atrocity, she said that the cockpit of . Meanwhile, the bodies of the tragic passengers on board the doomed flight and their personal belongings were scattered on residential streets, surrounding gardens and the countryside around. Browse 363 lockerbie plane crash stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Joseph Kenneth Miller, 56, Woodmere, N.Y. Richard Monetti was a Syracuse University student killed on Pan Am Flight 103. The community of Lockerbie will hold a series of poignant memorials in the town on Friday to commemorate the anniversary. Earlier this year, a review of his conviction was announced. The disaster is the deadliest aviation accident to ever have occurred on UK soil. Thatcher. It is currently believed the scrapyard owners are paid 800 per month by the Government for the storage of the plane - although they are not allowed to confirm its presence - nor explain why it is still there. The people in the town were just lovely.'. The fully-laden passenger jet was blown up by 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. Pingback: The Lockerbie Incident - Pan Am flight 103, Part V - Vexman's Thoughts. All 259 passengers and crew on Pan Am Flight 103 were killed in the Lockerbie Bombing along with 11 locals on the ground. Now amazing photographs show how the terror-struck town has been restored in the three decades since Libyan intelligence officerAbdelbaset al-Megrahi carried out the terror attack. He said: I didnt think at first it was a bomb. No one dies unless they are forgotten. On the morning of 22nd December 1988, a resident in Carlisle Road, Lockerbie, having been evacuated from her house since it was very close to the Sherwood crash site, returned to find a girls handbag lying perfectly undamaged in the back yard. "A larger, dark, delta shaped object, resembling an aircraft wing, landed about the same time in the Sherwood area of the town.". Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up. Harry Michael Bainbridge, 34, Montrose, N.Y. Stuart Murray Barclay, 29, Farm Barnard, Vt. Julian MacBain Benello, 25, Brookline, Mass. She had been so excited about coming home for Christmas. Mostly, as I recall, they were intact. Rodas, meanwhile, is "badly burned" as well, the source says. Anne Madelene Gorgacz, 76, Newcastle, Pa. Andre Nikolai Guevorgian, 32, Seacliffe, N.Y. Nicola Jane Hall, 23, Sandton, South Africa. some of it in the sea and some of it in the gardens and fields of farmers living around Lockerbie. (SU), Bridget Concannon, 53, Oxfordshire, England, Thomas Concannon, 51, Oxfordshire, England, Tracey Jane Corner, 17, Sheffield, England, Scott Cory, 20, Old Lyme Court, Conn. (SU), Willis Larry Coursey, 40, San Antonio, Texas. Some of the lighter pieces of wreckage were found miles away. Keeping their memory alive will ensure that. I couldn't bring myself to look at his face. We later realised it was the sound of the plane hitting Lockerbie. The remains of the plane must be stored until all investigations and appeals into the atrocity are completed. Eleven of the 270 dead were on the ground. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. The children came down the stairs screaming. On Dec. 21, 1988, 270 people were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed and crashed into the town of Lockerbie, Scotland . Pictures from the crash. Sections of the falling debris scattered out over a wide area - with the fuel-laden wing section falling on the Sherwood area of Lockerbie, where the 11 ground victims were killed in a massive jet-fuel explosion. Tests were carried out on the bodies of 233 of the victims. Glenn and Paula Bouckley, a couple from Clay, N.Y., were among the victims of Pan Am Flight 103. Twins Jason (left) & Eric Coker were among those killed in bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23. When Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988, it was carrying 35 Syracuse University students home from a semester spent studying abroad. In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of the atrocity and sentenced to 27 years imprisionment. Andrea Victoria Rosenthal, 22, New York, N.Y. Daniel Peter Rosenthal, 20, Staten Island, N.Y. Myra Josephine Royal, 30, London, England, Arnaud David Rubin, 28, Waterloo, Belgium, Elyse Jeanne Saraceni, 20, East London, England, Scott Christopher Saunders, 21, Macungie, Pa. (Colgate), Theresa E.J. Air crash investigators were able to recover around 90 per cent of the wreckage, which is now stored behind a high fence in a Lincolnshire scrapyard. It seemed surreal. As for Peter and his family, there will always be a special bond and he will always be part of our family.'. The fully-laden passenger jet was blown up by a terrorist's bomb in the skies over Scotland on December 21, 1988 - killing all 259 people on board. When a terrorist's explosive went off on December 21, 1988, 259 passengers and crew were killed as they flew in the Boeing 747 which was travelling from Frankfurt to Detroit, via New York and London. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. Steve said: We started to lay the wreckage out like an unwrapped tube but we couldnt keep it there because the Army needed the base back. The team then selected chunks of the debris and sent it by lorry to Farnborough, inset left, for a 3D reconstruction. But he still remembers the volunteers from the Salvation Army and WRVS who looked after them as they sifted through the scenes of destruction. Pan Am flight 103, also called Lockerbie bombing, flight of a passenger airliner operated by Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, after a bomb was detonated. We pay for your stories! Read more summary. In the initial stages, 40 ambulances and 115 personnel attended at Lockerbie. A photograph of Steve balanced on a ladder taking pictures inside the severed nosecone became one of the iconic images of the disaster. A huge crater was left where by the explosion - which was so powerful it measured 1.6 Richter Scale. To this day, Lindsey's mother, Peggy, 85, still cherishes two small pebbles from Mr Giesecke's garden she took as a permanent reminder of the spot where her daughter the youngest of her six children - was found, and of the Scottish town which treated her and other victims with such kindness and respect. They fell to earth. By 7.03pm, a deadly combination of mangled fuselage and burning aviation fuel had rained down upon the town of Lockerbie with lethal force, with the ensuing fireball incinerating homes in the town's Sherwood Crescent and, with it, 11 residents. 02:15 GMT 16 Dec 2018 The others came from 19 other countries including France, Germany, India, Sweden, Australia and Japan. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. She was found on a hedge about eight miles from the cockpit of the 747. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). John Michael Gerard Ahern, 26, Rockville Centre, N.Y. Sarah Margaret Aicher, 29, London, England. 2014, shows bodies among the wreckage of the Malaysian airliner after it crashed near the town of Shaktarsk in rebel-held eastern Ukraine. Thirty years on, the tragic scenes he witnessed from above still leave an impression on the retired investigator. Image caption, The cockpit of Pan Am 103 landed in a field at Tundergarth, near . Father Patrick Keegans, Holy Trinity Church, Lockerbie Scotland, 1988: At 7:04 p.m., Pan Am Flight 103, destroyed by a bomb on board the aircraft, crashed into the town of Lockerbie. We just had to trust the investigative process and focused on that. At 11am, residents of Sherwood Crescent and the survivors who lived there at the time will recall the terrible night that claimed the lives of 11 local people. And Colins son and daughter have both spent a year studying at the New York institution under an exchange scheme set up after the disaster. Laura Abigail Owens, 8, Cherry Hill, N.J. Robert Plack Owens, 45, Cherry Hill, N.J. Sarah Rebecca Owens, 14, Cherry Hill, N.J. Robert Italo Pagnucco, 51, South Salem, N.Y. Christos M. Papadopoulos, 45, North Lawrence, N.Y. Peter Raymond Peirce, 40, Perrysburgh, Ohio (SU), Sarah S.B. Earlier in 2018, a review of his conviction was announced amid speculation that others were involved in the attack. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, This photo shows debris from the cockpit of Pan Am Flight 103 in a field next to Tundergarth Cemetery in Lockerbie, Lockerbie aftermath: Aerial footage shows the devastation caused by the 1998 terror attack, Today, no trace of the disaster can be found in the small graveyard, Sherwood Crescent was badly damaged in the aftermath of the bombing in 1988, But this is what the sleepy street looked like earlier this week, 30 years after it was devastated in the attack, A total of 21 homes were obliterated by falling wreckage after the plane broke up in the air - including some here, in Rosebank Crescent, It's been completely rebuilt after a 60ft section of the fuselage smashed into the rooftops, The wings hit the very edge of the A74 by the side of Sherwood Crescent, The 47-metre crater is now completely undetectable, Tonnes of twisted metal from the aircraft were spread over an 850 square mile area, Luckily, the majority of the damage at Rosebank Crescent was in the gardens of the houses, One driver was said to have had a miraculous escape when the wing-section crashed into the road, All of the ground victims died here in the Sherwood area of Lockerbie, Emergency services rushed to Lockerbie in the wake of the bombing, where most victims were either dead or suffering from minor injuries, The houses on Sherwood Crescent are now completely rebuilt after a 'meteor-like' object struck, The enormous scar on the earth and charred trees left by the wing section which was full of jet fuel when it hit, Over 1,500 tonnes of soil were displaced in the gigantic cater, which is now covered over, But the town has restored its terraces in the years since the destruction, A fragment from the Boeing 747 named 'Clipper Maid of the Seas' in a field, Now all the debris has been cleared from the terrorised town, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).