Air India flight 182

Air India Flight 182 was a flight that flew on a Toronto Pearson International Airport, Mississauga, Ontario - Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, Montreal, Quebec - London Heathrow Airport, London - Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi - Sahar International Airport (now Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport), Bombay (now Mumbai) route. The flight was bombed on the Montreal to London leg on June 23, 1985 31,000 feet (9500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, South of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.

The bomb brothers

On June 22, 1985, at 1330 GMT, a man calling himself Mr. Singh reserved a seat on Canadian Pacific Airlines' (CP) flight from Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario, requesting that his suitcase be transferred to Air India Flight 182 (a Boeing 747-237B, VT-EFO, nicknamed Kanishka). The agents, who had booked him as unconfirmed, initially refused to inter-line the baggage but later relented.

At 1550 GMT, Mr. Singh checked into Vancouver for CP Air Flight 60 to Toronto. Agent Jeannie Adams checked in a piece of luggage bound for the Air India flight.

At 1618, the CP Air flight to Toronto departed without Mr. Singh.

It is unknown when a man named L. Singh checked in at Vancouver for CP Air Flight 3 to New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport) in Narita, Japan, near Tokyo. Jeannie Adams also checked in his bag which was directed to Air India Flight 301 leaving for Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. L. Singh was assigned seat 38H.

At 2022 GMT, CP Air Flight 60 arrived in Toronto 12 minutes late. Some of the passengers and baggage, including the bag Mr. Singh checked in, were transferred to the Air India flight. Other passengers and baggage from Air Canada Flight 136, which also came from Vancouver, were handled as well.

At 2037 GMT, Empress of Australia, flying CP Flight 3, departed Vancouver without L. Singh on board.

At 0015 GMT (now June 23), Flight 182 departed Toronto for Montreal Mirabel 1 h 40 min late. The aircraft was late as a "5th pod", a spare engine, was installed below the left wing. The defective engine was being flown to India for repairs. It arrived at Mirabel at 0100 GMT.

At 0541, Empress of Australia, flying route CP Air 3 arrived at Tokyo 14 min early. The luggage that came from CP Air 3 exploded as it was being transferred to Air India Flight 301, killing two of the baggage handlers in Narita and injuring four other people.

At 0715 GMT, Air India Flight 182, which had departed Mirabel bound for London, disappeared. Air traffic controllers at Shannon International Airport in Shannon, Ireland heard a crackling sound before the plane vanished. The plane was supposed to arrive at 0815 GMT.

The second piece of baggage, a dark-brown, hard sided Samsonite suitcase wound up on Flight 182 and went with it when it departed Toronto. The bomb inside detonated in the forward cargo hold, (55 minutes after the Narita bomb went off, at 0715 GMT). It exploded mid-flight at 31,000 ft in a terrorist attack led by Sikh nationalists.

The bomb caused rapid decompression, and consequent in-flight breakup. The wreckage settled in 2000 m deep water off the south-west Irish coast 180 miles offshore Cork.

The bombing killed 19 flight crew and 307 passengers, including 82 minors. The bombing was the largest terrorist attack ever committed against Canadian citizens, and 280 of the dead were Canadians. Some of the dead had survived the explosion and the fall but drowned in the Atlantic Ocean.

Air India Flight 301 left Narita at 0805 GMT and arrived in Thailand unscathed.

Soon after the Narita and Flight 182 bombings

The subsequent Canadian investigation into the attack was notoriously slow, and was dogged by many charges of corruption, incompetence and a cover-up. Only in 2002 did the trial formally begin, and as of this writing is still ongoing.

The main suspect in the bombing was the leader of a Sikh terrorist group operating in Canada named the Babbar Khalsa. Talwinder Singh Parmar had allegedly plotted the attack while living in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Parmar was a naturalized Canadian citizen wanted for extradition to India for his role in terrorist activities in the Punjab. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had obtained permission for a wiretap on March 5th, 1985, 3 months before the bombing.

In 1992, Parmar was killed by police in Punjab, India, and was never formally brought to trial for his role in the 329 deaths.

The trial today

In October 2000, the RCMP arrested Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri on charges of murdering the passengers and crew of Air India flight 182 and the two baggage handlers in Tokyo as well as conspiracy to commit murder of the passengers of Air India flight 301 scheduled to depart from Tokyo. In 2001, they arrested Inderjit Singh Reyat who was the alleged bomb-maker of the device that blew up flight 182. In 2003, Reyet pleaded guilty to the murder of the 329 passengers.

The trial of Malik and Bagri, delayed by pre-trial motions and problems with defense counsel, finally began in April 2003. The Crown rested May 18 2004 and the defense began its case May 31, which is still in progress.

There are allegations that CSIS interfered in the investigation by destroying hundreds of wiretaps of to protect the identity of their mole in the terrorist group. CSIS claims the wiretaps contained no relevant information but a memo from the RCMP states that "There is a strong likelihood that had CSIS retained the tapes between March and August, 1985, that a succesful prosecution of at least some of pincipals in both bombings could have been undertaken." To this day the Canadian government continues to insist there was no mole involved. However the reason for the continued destruction of wiretaps, even after the bombing had taken place leaves many with no doubt as to the real reason for their destruction. Many people have called for a public inquiry but the Canadian government has refused at least until the trial is over.

See also

• List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners