December 21st marks the 35th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing: In 1988, a Pan American World Airways plane, Flight 103, exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on its way from London Heathrow to JFK in New York. A bomb had previously detonated on board – all 259 people on the plane were killed, plus 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, who died from flying debris. The investigation into the crash revealed that the bomb was hidden in a cassette, in a suitcase in the hold of the plane.
According to a verdict by Scottish criminal courts, the attack was ordered by Libyan intelligence officers – an act of state terrorism. Two suspects, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, were charged. Libya’s dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi had denied involvement throughout his life, but the country paid $2.46 billion in compensation to the victims’ families.
In 2001, al-Megrahi was found guilty in a trial in a Scottish court and sentenced to life imprisonment. Fhimah received an acquittal. Al-Megrahi was released from prison in 2009 for health reasons and returned to Libya. He died in 2012.
Among the passenger victims was the 50-year-old UN Commissioner for Namibia (then South West Africa) Bernt Carlsson, who was scheduled to attend the signing ceremony of the New York Agreement at UN headquarters the following day. Furthermore James Fuller, an American automotive executive who worked for Volkswagen. Also on board were the Irish Olympic sailors Peter Dix and rock musicians Paul Jeffreys and his wife.
There are some celebrities who missed Flight 103 – leading to conspiracy theories that the US government may have been warned and passed on that warning of a terrorist attack to “certain, important people.”
Didn’t take your flight:
The Four tops. The soul quartet missed the plane to the USA. They were late from the recording studio.
Sex Pistols singer John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten. Thanks to his wife Nora, with whom he boarded the plane – but she didn’t pack her bags in time. “When we realized what had happened, we just looked at each other and almost collapsed.”
There are also – unconfirmed – reports or statements about other celebrities who were booked on PA103 but did not take the flight: Roelof “Pik” Bothathen Foreign Minister of South Africa; John Thomas McCarthyU.S. Ambassador to Lebanon; Chris RevellDeputy Director of the FBI; Steven Greeneadministrative officer in the DEA office.
Last but not least Jennifer Rush. In an interview, the pop singer said that she was booked on the flight to New York. But she rebooked and then flew back to New York with Lufthansa.
Memorial ceremonies for the victims continue to this day. Every year on December 21st, a service is held at Syracuse University in memory of the 35 students who died – at 2:03 p.m. (7:03 p.m. Scottish time), the time of the explosion. The university also awards two “Lockerbie Scholarships” to Lockerbie Academy students each year.