Pan Am Flight 103 Air Crash Investigation Report
Investigators sort to establish what happened 38 minutes after takeoff that lead to the death of 270 people on board the Pan Am flight 103. This mystery guided the Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation with the center of focus being Lockerbie in Scotland. Preliminary findings indicated that a bomb had been hidden at the cargo section in a way that was concealed from the crew in charge. Of the 270 who died, 259 were crew and passengers traveling to New York while 11 died at the site of the crash.
At the time the bomb went off, the plane is said to have been cruising 31,000 feet in the sky. The report implicated Libyan terrorists. The conclusion was as a result of thousands of pieces of debris collected from the site and information from other sources. Investigators assembled the plane in a warehouse to aid in identifying the location of the bomb. The crash attracted the attention of world media because of the nature of attack and magnitude of loss.
Investigators sifted through evidence and presentations for three years before implicating two Libyans. They were Al Amin Khalifa and Abdel Baset. The evidence presented during the trial of these two individuals did not implicated Khalifa. This led to his release while Al-Amin was sent to prison for life. Libya took responsibility and paid a total of 2.7 billion dollars in fines.
Investigations involving accidents in UK are handled by Air Accident Investigation Branch. They took responsibility of this one too. The area covered by the debris extended around 2000 square kilometers where about 4million pieces were collected. They were recorded in computers for easy identification.
The idea of a bomb led investigators to term the crush as a criminal act. This is where they were led to believe that luggage was used to plant it at the cargo section. It was suspected that the luggage was boarded in Frankfurt. The remains had traces of RDX and PETN chemicals which cause Semtex explosion. The team of investigators included local police, Scotland Yard and FBI.
The entry of Americans into the investigations was because of the 189 citizens who formed part of the 270 people on board. Such a huge figure of deaths was only overtaken by the terrorist attack on 9/11. Court proceedings witnessed the presentation of 3,500 photos, 180,000 pieces as evidence and the testimonies of 15,000 people. 20 countries were covered during investigation. Libya took responsibility after UN imposed sanctions.
The total expenditure for the trial was a record breaking 60 million dollars. No other trial in history has cost that much. 230 witnesses stood before the judges to give their testimonies. Transcriptions for the entire trial totaled over 10,000 pages which were written over the 89 days that testimonies were given. There is a theory that the real perpetrators of the crime were never caught. The politics of Iran, Palestine and America complicated the process of revealing the truth. The theory states that Iran paid some Palestinian individuals to bring down the plane.
The conflict between Iran and America brought a dark cloud over the investigations with Libya being used as a scapegoat. This explains why it took a very long time and UN sanctions to accept responsibilities. Some people feel that the truth will never be known.
At the time the bomb went off, the plane is said to have been cruising 31,000 feet in the sky. The report implicated Libyan terrorists. The conclusion was as a result of thousands of pieces of debris collected from the site and information from other sources. Investigators assembled the plane in a warehouse to aid in identifying the location of the bomb. The crash attracted the attention of world media because of the nature of attack and magnitude of loss.
Investigators sifted through evidence and presentations for three years before implicating two Libyans. They were Al Amin Khalifa and Abdel Baset. The evidence presented during the trial of these two individuals did not implicated Khalifa. This led to his release while Al-Amin was sent to prison for life. Libya took responsibility and paid a total of 2.7 billion dollars in fines.
Investigations involving accidents in UK are handled by Air Accident Investigation Branch. They took responsibility of this one too. The area covered by the debris extended around 2000 square kilometers where about 4million pieces were collected. They were recorded in computers for easy identification.
The idea of a bomb led investigators to term the crush as a criminal act. This is where they were led to believe that luggage was used to plant it at the cargo section. It was suspected that the luggage was boarded in Frankfurt. The remains had traces of RDX and PETN chemicals which cause Semtex explosion. The team of investigators included local police, Scotland Yard and FBI.
The entry of Americans into the investigations was because of the 189 citizens who formed part of the 270 people on board. Such a huge figure of deaths was only overtaken by the terrorist attack on 9/11. Court proceedings witnessed the presentation of 3,500 photos, 180,000 pieces as evidence and the testimonies of 15,000 people. 20 countries were covered during investigation. Libya took responsibility after UN imposed sanctions.
The total expenditure for the trial was a record breaking 60 million dollars. No other trial in history has cost that much. 230 witnesses stood before the judges to give their testimonies. Transcriptions for the entire trial totaled over 10,000 pages which were written over the 89 days that testimonies were given. There is a theory that the real perpetrators of the crime were never caught. The politics of Iran, Palestine and America complicated the process of revealing the truth. The theory states that Iran paid some Palestinian individuals to bring down the plane.
The conflict between Iran and America brought a dark cloud over the investigations with Libya being used as a scapegoat. This explains why it took a very long time and UN sanctions to accept responsibilities. Some people feel that the truth will never be known.
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