The mystery surrounding the Pan Am flight 103 disaster of Lockerbie in Scotland took years to solve. Investigators had to travel thousands of miles and transverse about 20 countries in search of necessary evidence. The conclusion made from the Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation implicated Libyans with the terrorist act that claimed the lives of 259 inside the plane and 11 on the ground.
Investigations revealed that an explosion occurred about 31,000 feet above the ground. Investigators had to piece together all pieces in order to establish the truth. The American aviation industry had never experienced a disaster of this magnitude. The media focused a lot on the details of the entire process.
Investigators spent years collecting evidence and piecing it together before concluding that Libyans were involved. The two suspects were Baset Abdel and Khalifa Al-Amin. The judge concluded that Khalifa was not culpable according to the evidence presented and therefore set him free. The government of Libya was ordered to pay a total of 2.7 billion dollars as compensation because the blame lay on Abdel Baset who was sentenced to death.
Investigations were led by the UK Air Accident Investigation branch. They took over the responsibility because the accident occurred in within their airspace. A whopping 4 million pieces of debris and evidence were collected with the entire accident area covering over 2000 square kilometers. Computer simulations were necessary in documenting and ordering the pieces.
Claims that terrorists were involved shifted the focus of investigating teams. The chemical compounds that were found on site included RDX and PETN. The type of explosion witnessed was said to be Semtex. The teams involved in these investigations included FBI, local police and Scotland Yard. Frankfurt was suspected to be the loading port for the bomb.
Americans were interested in these investigations because of the fatalities they suffered. Of the 270 who died, 189 were American citizen. This was a big blow and a record in the aviation history. The number of casualties was only surpassed by the deaths during the 9/11 attack on Twin Towers. Investigations and prosecution process witnessed the presentation of 180,000 pieces of evidence. Testimonies of 15,000 people were collected to aid in the investigations. 3,500 photos were taken and presented during inquiry. A new record was set in terms of expenditure during an investigation.
The total expenditure during investigations totaled over 60 million dollars. The trial was another record with more than 230 witnesses being summoned to testify in proceedings that lasted 89 days. The transcripts for this trial went up to 10,000 pages and more. Libya denied the accusation that it sanctioned, planned and financed the attack. They claimed that political convenience had led authorities to lay the blame on them. This allowed the theory that Palestinians were responsible instead under the direction of Iran.
Iran was said to harbor a grudge against America for killing 290 of her citizens in the Persian Gulf sometime back. This was a reason enough to cause them to bring down the plane. Libya conceded to the blame and paid compensation after suctions were imposed. Such turn of events and variety of theories make it difficult to find the truth about this disaster.
Investigations revealed that an explosion occurred about 31,000 feet above the ground. Investigators had to piece together all pieces in order to establish the truth. The American aviation industry had never experienced a disaster of this magnitude. The media focused a lot on the details of the entire process.
Investigators spent years collecting evidence and piecing it together before concluding that Libyans were involved. The two suspects were Baset Abdel and Khalifa Al-Amin. The judge concluded that Khalifa was not culpable according to the evidence presented and therefore set him free. The government of Libya was ordered to pay a total of 2.7 billion dollars as compensation because the blame lay on Abdel Baset who was sentenced to death.
Investigations were led by the UK Air Accident Investigation branch. They took over the responsibility because the accident occurred in within their airspace. A whopping 4 million pieces of debris and evidence were collected with the entire accident area covering over 2000 square kilometers. Computer simulations were necessary in documenting and ordering the pieces.
Claims that terrorists were involved shifted the focus of investigating teams. The chemical compounds that were found on site included RDX and PETN. The type of explosion witnessed was said to be Semtex. The teams involved in these investigations included FBI, local police and Scotland Yard. Frankfurt was suspected to be the loading port for the bomb.
Americans were interested in these investigations because of the fatalities they suffered. Of the 270 who died, 189 were American citizen. This was a big blow and a record in the aviation history. The number of casualties was only surpassed by the deaths during the 9/11 attack on Twin Towers. Investigations and prosecution process witnessed the presentation of 180,000 pieces of evidence. Testimonies of 15,000 people were collected to aid in the investigations. 3,500 photos were taken and presented during inquiry. A new record was set in terms of expenditure during an investigation.
The total expenditure during investigations totaled over 60 million dollars. The trial was another record with more than 230 witnesses being summoned to testify in proceedings that lasted 89 days. The transcripts for this trial went up to 10,000 pages and more. Libya denied the accusation that it sanctioned, planned and financed the attack. They claimed that political convenience had led authorities to lay the blame on them. This allowed the theory that Palestinians were responsible instead under the direction of Iran.
Iran was said to harbor a grudge against America for killing 290 of her citizens in the Persian Gulf sometime back. This was a reason enough to cause them to bring down the plane. Libya conceded to the blame and paid compensation after suctions were imposed. Such turn of events and variety of theories make it difficult to find the truth about this disaster.
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