Investigators worked for years to solve the mystery of the Pan Am Fight 103 that came down 38 minutes after takeoff on its way to Detroit through London from Frankfurt. Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation team camped at Lockerbie in Scotland to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. Preliminary investigations pointed at a bomb that was planted in the luggage section. The luggage could have found its way into the plane in Frankfurt.
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.
Investigations took a criminal angle when the bomb theory care to fore. There were traces of PETN and RDX, chemicals that cause Semtex explosions. The bomb was said to have been entered in Frankfurt. Investigators were drawn from the FBI, Scotland Yard and local police.
America had never witnessed such magnitude of murder of her citizens. 189 of the 270 people who died on board were Americans. The only other act that saw such a level of deaths was the 9/11 terrorist attack that happened years later. The court proceedings saw the presentation of 180,000 pieces of evidence, 3,500 of which were photos. 15,000 people assisted the prosecution with testimonies. A total of 20 countries were involved in the investigations. It was concluded that Libya should take responsibility by paying 2.7 billion dollars.
The total budget for investigations and trial amounted to 60 million dollars. This was a record breaking budget with 230 people being called to testify. Transcriptions for court proceedings went up to 10,000 pages while the total time taken for testimonies was 89 days. Despite all these investigations, some quotas claimed that the crash took a global political angle. This led the perpetrators to escape as investigators chased Libya. There was a claim that Iran was responsible through the aid of Palestinians. This was to retaliate for their plane that was grounded by Americans killing 290 people in the Persian Gulf.
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.
Investigations took a criminal angle when the bomb theory care to fore. There were traces of PETN and RDX, chemicals that cause Semtex explosions. The bomb was said to have been entered in Frankfurt. Investigators were drawn from the FBI, Scotland Yard and local police.
America had never witnessed such magnitude of murder of her citizens. 189 of the 270 people who died on board were Americans. The only other act that saw such a level of deaths was the 9/11 terrorist attack that happened years later. The court proceedings saw the presentation of 180,000 pieces of evidence, 3,500 of which were photos. 15,000 people assisted the prosecution with testimonies. A total of 20 countries were involved in the investigations. It was concluded that Libya should take responsibility by paying 2.7 billion dollars.
The total budget for investigations and trial amounted to 60 million dollars. This was a record breaking budget with 230 people being called to testify. Transcriptions for court proceedings went up to 10,000 pages while the total time taken for testimonies was 89 days. Despite all these investigations, some quotas claimed that the crash took a global political angle. This led the perpetrators to escape as investigators chased Libya. There was a claim that Iran was responsible through the aid of Palestinians. This was to retaliate for their plane that was grounded by Americans killing 290 people in the Persian Gulf.
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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