Wednesday 4 June 2014

Pan Am Flight 103 Air Crash Investigation Report

By Lila Bryant


The Pan Am flight 103 came down at Lockerbie in Scotland on it way from Frankfurt to Detroit via London. Investigations into the disaster took detectives and aviation experts across twenty countries. The death toll according to Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation report totaled 270. Of this number, 259 were on-board while 11 died on the ground. Preliminary findings and eventual conclusion pointed at a bomb attack.

The analysis revealed that the plan was traveling at 31,000 feet in the sky when it exploded. It was termed as a terrorist attack and the blame was laid on Libya. Investigations involved piecing together the debris in a warehouse in order to establish the cause and circumstances surrounding the crash. This became the worst plane disaster that involved terrorism and attracted world media to the small town.

Evidence presented by prosecutors implicated Libyans in the terror attack. Two of her citizens went on trial for acts of terrorism. They were Abdel Baset and Khalifa Al-Amin. The evidence presented was used to set Khalifa free but Abdel was sentenced to life in prison. It was claimed that the plane was brought down under instructions from the Libyan authorities. Libya was slapped with a 2.7 billion dollar compensation bill for aiding the terrorists.

The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch spearheaded the investigations because the accident happened within their air space. The debris that was gathered in this disaster area totaled around 4 million pieces. The area covered by investigations stretched to 2000 square kilometers. Documentation and simulation had to be done using computers in order to piece the debris together.

The crash took a criminal turn when it emerged that terrorism was the cause. Investigators found PETN and RDX chemical compounds at the scene. This was blamed for the Semtex explosion that caused the crush. A combined team of FBI, Scotland Yard and local police carried out the investigations. The bomb is suspected to have been boarded at Frankfurt.

American took keen interest in this inquiry because of fatalities suffered in the disaster. A total of 189 Americans died on board. This was said to be the worst disaster in American history involving the aviation industry. The next disasters to claim such a number of people was the 9/11 attack on Twin Towers. Testimonies were collected from 15,000 people with over 3,500 photos being presented as evidence. The exhibits totaled 180,000. The expenses for this inquiry surpassed any in history.

The cost of inquiry totaled more than 60 million dollars. 230 witnesses were called to testify over a trial that lasted a total of 89 days. Transcripts for the trail went beyond 10,000 pages. Authorities in Libya claimed that they were not involved in the said attack but were only used as excuses for political reasons. This brought to fore the theory that Palestine was involved instead.

The possibility that Iran was responsible was heightened by the fact that they had a long standing conflict with American. American had grounded an Iranian plane which killed to 290 Iranians on board in the Persian Gulf. It took international sanctions to compel Libya into accepting responsibility. The politics surrounding the disaster makes it difficult to know the truth.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment