BBC News Bulletin - Lockerbie Air Disaster - 21 December 1988

[@zm321]

My Dad knew a guy on board the flight who was found in the nose section at Tundergarth (which it turned out is also where his family chose to bury him, in the churchyard across the road) and a former colleague of my Dad's was driving back from a business meeting in Scotland that night, he stopped at a petrol station in Lockerbie but gave up waiting due to the queue and drove on to the next one. Ten minutes later the petrol station was hit by debris from the plane. Many years later I met the guy who stopped at the petrol station. We were talking about that night, it turns out that around 10 years after the crash his wife saw a horse advertised in Horse & Hounds magazine in the Lockerbie area and they went to see it with a view to buying. The seller of the horse was the farmer that owned the field where the other guy my Dad knew came to rest. I still can't believe that my Dad knew someone on the plane and someone on the ground who was nearly caught up in it all and then there was this tenuous link many years later.

[@9Ballr]

Denice O'Neill, age 21, was on Pan Am Flight 103. She lived across the hall from me at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and used to come over and watch TV in the evenings with me and my roommates. She was a pre-med student and was returning to the U.S. after working for two and a half months at a hospital in Nigeria. She was in seat 38K.

[@aviatrix91]

There was a man who missed the flight. His family was celebrating his trip in the airport bar. They said their goodbyes and he headed off to the gate thoroughly drunk. He got lost on his way, and showed up at the gate after the cabin door closed. He argued with the gate agent that they should let him on because it was still at the gate. Not happening. The man, dejected, left the gate ashamed of himself. He decided to call his family a few hours later. His relatives were shocked into disbelief and stated that “This is not possible! We just heard that the plane crashed!!”

[@MultiJames95]

That man was Jaswant Basuta, an Indian-American born in the Africas. That celebration in the bar was not supposed to happen as he and his relatives were Sikhs and in Sikhism, alcohol is discouraged. But this was a special occasion as he was due to start a new high-paying job in the USA so they made an exception. After missing the flight wherein his baggage was onboard, Jaswant inquired from a ticket agent on the next available Pan Am flight and while waiting for results, two police officers stationed at Terminal 3 walked to him and told him of the crash wherein they took him to the Heathrow police station. Jaswant was interrogated or interviewed wherein he reveals his innocence. The UK police believes his story and phones his relatives and family, where he was free to go. Probably because all Pan Am flights are full and because he was afraid to take Pan Am again, Jaswant went back to the US on a later British Airways flight. The FBI arrived in his house and asks him to identify his baggage. When he managed to do so, the authorities were convinced that the baggage Jaswant owned did not contain the bomb, he was removed from the inquiry. The Motown quartet, The Four Tops, had completed their tour and were promoting a new album, which contained the Phil Collins-penned single “Loco in Acapulco”. A recording session they had been engaged in went on far longer than it should have due to delays. Then The British music show Top Of The Pops had booked them for an appearance at the last second. According to Duke Fakir, the last of the original Four Tops, the group originally planned two performances for the show: Loco in Acapulco and Reach Out I’ll Be There. They wanted to record them together but were told they could not do both of them in the same session. So “Loco” was done in one session and “Reach Out” in another. The Four Tops did that and very tired decided to cancel their tickets, stay in London, and just sleep the day off. Unknown to them, they were booked by the BBC on a later British Airways flight. They would wake up to find out that Pan Am 103, the transatlantic flight they had been supposed to travel home on, had blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing everyone on board, passengers and crew, plus a few people on the ground in Lockerbie. Shaken they finally managed to regain their composure and went home to the US using the aforementioned British Airways flight. In another story, some guy, probably an Canadian or American or Brit, stated that he was on a BA flight that departed three planes away from 103. On that BA flight were some Syracuse students who could not make it to Pan Am 103 and two were seated next to him. These Syracuse students had lost some of their fellows on Clipper 103 and when they landed, the whole plane clapped. Upon reaching the terminal, he saw these students reunite with other Syracuse students who were also supposed to fly 103 but switched to the earlier PA101 or had arrived the day before. From them, he heard news of PA 103 and also followed them to the Worldport to check on it. There he saw some family members of the victims and some friends in despair and grief but he was beyond horrified when he heard the wailing of Jeannine Boulanger (mother of Syracuse student Nicole, a passenger of the flight), who had collapsed on the floor screaming “no my baby”, and saw her being escorted to the Clipper Lounge. Those memories may be fuzzy in some details but key elements fresh in his mind. The cries of Jeannine Boulanger still haunt him to this day.

[@FallenAngel53]

It’s very weird isn’t it that he’s not allowed to drink alcohol due to his religion but this was an exception due to celebrating his new job. Alcohol which is forbidden saved that man’s life that night. Go figure… reminds me of the guy mugged in broad daylight for his wallet. He gets checked out at the hospital as he fell and bumped his head. There was a king sized tumour growing in his head and he had about a week to live if it had gone unnoticed.

[@markmiller3308]

Actress Kim Cattral was supposed to be on that flight as well. She spent the day Christmas shopping and decided to skip the flight.

[@TGP109]

@@MultiJames95 Yes, I remember when this happened and seeing her on the news collapsed on the floor, wailing in grief. Saddest thing I ever saw.

[@mrkipling2201]

John Lydon missed the flight as well.

[@graemebaker8985]

I was 9 I always remember the cockpit section laying in a field. I remember watching " This is your Life " at 7pm with my mum then a news flash about it.

[@MP-qj8mr]

@yortzandat what is your point ? Dont you think this happened?

[@StephenLuke]

RIP To the passengers and crew of Pan Am Flight 103 and the 11 people on the ground

[@CO84trucker]

I came pretty close to being fatherless that fateful night. My father missed that flight heading home from Europe.

[@cubismo85]

@Ed Kahler if you believe he is lying, you should provide any facts predicting the lie, otherwise your just full of shit

[@dominewimbury2039]

@Ed Kahler shut up! Your proof he's lying is where?! Nowhere so hush

[@dominewimbury2039]

@Ed Kahler shut it

[@rickrennyoneill]

Ed Kahler explain

[@bilalahmed2123]

Very happy to hear that your father was alright.

[@johnking5174]

The awful Lockerbie incident showed the BBC that having their opening news titles would be unsuitable, so it was just a straight announcement into the newsroom, no opening titles.

[@aviatrix91]

That was totally appropriate, as the news station in Syracuse did their normal lead in, and featured raucous Christmas commercials. Totally inappropriate and insensitive.

[@CathyKitson]

There was a period of 3 or 4 weeks when there was one accident after another. First it was the Clapham Rail Crash. 9 days later Lockerbie. 18 days after that the Kegworth Plane Crash. By that time we were going: "Oh, no, not another one!" This wasn't as bad as 2014, though, when it seemed to be every other day.

[@dominewimbury2039]

It was horrific that Christmas period. The worst I have ever seen and I was only three!

[@seanmcmanus2777]

I wouldn't call Lockerbie an accident

[@mrkipling2201]

The 1980's had so many major disasters. An abnormal number.

[@missbunty]

Year before was the Hungerford massacre 😢:(

[@billkent6037]

I was 8 years old and I remember watching this because I was ill during the night and I came downstairs and it was on the television. I just remember seeing fire absolutely everywhere, it was appalling

[@jamesross1799]

Exactly the same experience as me. I was 10 I had a bad cold and I woke up very early in the morning the next day (I'm English) I will never forget what I saw on TV ranks alongside watching events unfold when Princess Diana died.

[@wmr9019]

Never forget this, I was blowing out candles on my 25th birthday cake as this tragedy happened, my first thought ever since has been for those lost and those who were there still alive today 🙏🙏🙏

[@jackgower3606]

People still blow out candles on their cake past their 10th birthday? Damn

[@duggydee5314]

Had just broke up from school for Christmas aged 10, was playing the spectrum 128k wen I hear this on the news. Can't believe they released him to die at home.

[@duggydee5314]

Mark Coupe Ha ha ha, very! In those days as long as renegade loaded any computer was good.

[@scottmckellar1157]

I was eighteen at the time. Heard it on the early morning News here in Australia.

[@JustAThought155]

I instantly go right back to the scene in my life when I heard of this horrible tragedy. My heart was so heavy for all the parents and families waiting with excitement to welcome their loved ones home, especially the Syracuse students families who waited to welcome them back home for the holidays. Horrible.

[@dean9235]

What I remember about this newsflash was my dad shouting "look at it!" With this terrible horror in his voice.

[@minimaxi802]

It was bad luck that the Pan Am plane crashed in southern Scotland that is predominantly rural with the exception of two towns, Dumfries and Lockerbie. The plane was expected to explode when over the sea just like the Air India bombing about 100 miles off Ireland in 1985. It was delayed and could have crashed in places like Coventry, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds. If it was delayed another half hour later it would have been destroyed on the ground at Heathrow Airport.

[@AB-mw8oz]

It would have been a good thing if it was delayed and still on the ground at heathrow, the bomb itself was weak, as with all bombs placed on airliners, the explosion causes structure damage which causes the inflight breakup, had the bomb gone off on the ground, the same hole would have been punched in the fuselage and maybe a couple of injuries from shrapnel and the pressure wave, but because the aircraft would have been on the ground there likely wouldn't have been any fatalities. If we look at more recent examples of the Metrojet bombing over Egypt and the Daallo Airlines bombing over Somalia in 2015 and 2016. The Metrojet a321 was flying at 31,000ft when a bomb detonated in the rear cargo hold severing the rear section of the aircraft and causing the aircraft to crash on the Sinai peninsula killing all onboard. 4 months later an unrelated suicide bomber detonated a bomb on a Daallo Airlines flight from Mogadishu to Djibouti. The aircraft was flying at 14,000ft when he detonated a bomb blowing a hole in the fuselage, the bomber was sucked out of the aircraft and his burnt body was later recovered and identified and 2 other passengers sustained wounds but other than the suicide bomber nobody else was killed. And as far as I can see the aircraft was returned to service but later stored at Amman Airport in Jordan later in 2016

[@Diddy1970AD]

I'm sure the bomb placed on PA103 was a barometric device ie it was programmed to explode after a certain time after reaching a specific altitude (as detected by the air pressure decreasing in the aircraft hold) therefore a delayed departure wouldn't have caused the bomb to explode on the ground unfortunately.

[@kelleybrown1666]

What the world wide web was created for: archiving. Thanks for upload.

[@princessbuttercup8954]

Pan Am was warned that a bomb would be on a flight from Frankfurt and they ignored it.

[@hlowrylong]

Not entirely true ... there were several warnings sent to Pan Am and several intelligence agencies - every day - for any & every flight - and the powers that be have had to make decisions as to whether to report each and every one of them. Everyone knows that terrorists will always try to create terror and take down the western world ... and everyone knows there are risk to anything in life. Blaming anyone but the terrorist is a waste of energy and time.

[@aviatrix91]

That’s the real shame of it all.

[@mrkipling2201]

Sent to the American Embassy in Helsinki I believe. On the 5th December 1988. Saying that it would happen in the next 2 weeks.

[@HazelAnnie]

so, so sad. I was 2 when this happened and I don't remember but when I got a bit older my mum told me about it. I also remember seeing it on the telly. Rest in peace.

[@gumusluk05]

Johnny Rotten was supposed to be on the flight

[@pauldg837]

I remember that night so clearly. An hour before the disaster, I had driven past Locherbie en-route to Glasgow. It was an unreal sensation recognising that something truly terrible Iad happened on our doorstep. The horror of all those innocent and unsuspecting people killed.

[@chuzzwozzer]

I remember watching this bulletin live as a 10yr old kid. It’s been ingrained in my memory ever since. RIP to all the victims, the sheer terror they must have been subjected to is just unimaginable.

[@apieceofdirt4681]

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 30 years.

[@PiggyWiggyO]

33 years ago today.

[@TGP109]

Yes, I was 21 and remember this clearly.

[@scottmckellar1157]

Now 35

[@Richardpd16378]

I can remember seeing the Newsflash on BBC1 at 8pm just after Dr Who ended, which was the first I heard about it. I've not been able to find this on YT.

[@dutchy1176]

From the explosion to the separation of the entire nose section of the plane happened in about three seconds. Can't help but think what the fall of the rest of the plane, which took almost a minute, would have been like for the passengers. No doubt that many, especially towards the rear of the plane, were well aware of what was happening. This plane was completely overhauled one year prior, in 1987. An icon and a strong and dependable beauty, but not built to withstand the evil plots of some leaders in our corrupt world. Unfortunately...

[@milliken86gaming32]

The sudden deceleration would of killed most passangers or knocked them out

[@AB-mw8oz]

A flight attendant was reportedly found alive by a farmers wife but died from exposure before rescuers arrived and a pathology report after the disaster stated atleast 2 passengers sustained non-lethal wounds and likely would have survived if they were found soon enough

[@peteconrad2077]

@@milliken86gaming32unlikely. Although the loss of pressure would have made most unconscious.

[@randalpmcmurphy1340]

A seat and a cup of tea. The Great British way of dealing with ANYTHING.

[@bmused55]

I was 8 when this happened. Living in Germany as Dad was in the Army and stationed there. By the time we got the news, the nose had been found and the shot of it lying there in the field were what they opened the news report about the "crash" with. The most horrifying detail I have learned about that tragic night in the years since is that sadly many passengers survived the initial explosion and even their fall to the ground. At least one body was found in a field, near a set of seats, with grass clinched between the fingers of their clenched fist, and a track in the grass suggesting they released themselves from their seat and attempted to crawl a short distance before succumbing to their internal injuries :( Just a horrible way to go. This bombing was also the last straw for Pan Am. Years of penny pinching mismanagement had put them in a precarious financial position. They never recovered from flight 103 and ceased operations a few years later. Pan Am were one of the great pioneers in commercial aviation and the single biggest reason Boeing built the 747!

[@scottmckellar1157]

Several years later our family knew someone who claimed to be flying out of Australia on Pan Am. It was pointed out to him that Pan Am had been broke since 1988....

[@anthroposmetron4475]

Pan Am went bust in 1991. Though it shed its pacific routes in the eighties.

[@darren2514fv]

The late BBC bulletins from the Lockerbie disaster was done from The Nine'O Clock News studio with Michael Buerk

[@johnking5174]

The studio was based in the BBC Newsroom, and would be perfect for the constant updates about this awful event.

[@cavannaro1]

“There are people around the world not terribly happy with the Americans”. Never a truer word said.

[@Sobolady89]

If it wasn't for the Americans, you Brits would be speaking German along with the rest of Europe.

[@cavannaro1]

@@Sobolady89 Ah, I see you’ve done Cliched History 101. Actually, there’s an element of truth in what you say, but the Soviet Union made a much bigger contribution to the war. It also didn’t help that the USA was 3 years late to join WW1, and 2 years late to WW2. And in 1941, you only joined because hitler declared war on America after your response to Pearl harbour. And the UK only finished paying off your US help in something like 2006. So the USA aren’t exactly the saviours of the universe....

[@Sobolady89]

@@cavannaro1 We kicked your asses back to the UK in 1814 and you're still pissed.

[@stevensmith5816]

@@Sobolady89 you can't even spell american's enough said

[@TheWeepingDalek]

@@Sobolady89 and if wasn't for the french. you wouldn't even be a country

[@ShyGuy83]

I read a rumor online that the late Christine Cavanaugh was supposed to be on the flight, but missed it because she was at a gas station talking extensively to a friend of hers on a pay phone. I don’t know if that story is true or not, but the fact that she’s been gone for almost ten years, and that Pan AM has been gone for more than three decades make it extra hard to know what really transpired.

[@MP-qj8mr]

Awful what those poor people on the plane went through for those final few moments, most would have been alive on impact even those sucked out into the night sky would most probably have been alive. Some even survived the impact but died a few moments later. There was reports of a passenger ( a female) clutching grass from the muddy field where she lay still strapped to her seat. The cockpit and some of the first class passangers remained intact and with most of their clothes still on.

[@teamet8317]

A six mile freefall. Every emotion probably went through people's heads, if they were still conscious. I'd be laughing and crying the whole way down.

[@johnking5174]

This bulletin replaced the advertised programme "Lifeline".

[@alansuper3]

It was wrong: even before the Air India incident and the Japan Airlines incident making two 747s lost, a 747 of Korean Airlines was brought down by Soviet missile in 1983

[@adrielsebastian5216]

There was also the Tenerife disaster, both planes involved were 747s

[@jamesh2003]

As far as I know the people in the cars escaped as all the ground casualties were in the houses.

[@jaimieboy999]

I work with 2 boys at the moment that saw it happen. Crazy stuff.

[@63ppaolo]

oggi sono passati 33 anni , era un mercoledì .

[@jamiedale5070]

6:27 Us Brits and cups of tea! What are we like. He meant well though. Bless them all.

[@markyinbelfastxx9088]

What else cud they do?

[@DavidB-rx3km]

Perhaps as well! Tea was not even guaranteed.

[@gordontaylor5373]

I quite like the Liverpudlian guy.

[@glockymc4611]

Is it you 🤔

[@gordontaylor5373]

@@glockymc4611 No, it's not. I was only 6 then!

[@mrkipling2201]

​@@gordontaylor5373 I thought you were the chairman of the PFA at the time!!

[@MartynCann]

The cruel sea what a classic movie.

[@tiadaid]

Apparently a coroner's inquest found that at least two victims COULD HAVE SURVIVED the disaster had they been found earlier. What if...

[@peteconrad2077]

Very hard to find everyone quickly in that situation.

[@bullyinspace]

I remember it well

[@cherylbean521]

So sad

[@abigailpoppins6183]

We're in the process og having a MAJOR natural disaster... And i don't wanna be ANYWHERE NEAR.. these attackers. ·¬

[@alexdelacotte9031]

Casey have mercy..

[@martoto77]

Burke looks like he’s enjoying himself at times.

[@RHR-221b]

Agreed, m. Buerk and his BBC ilk were then, as now, a stinking midden of sleaze. 'It' probably had a semi whilst spewing out [insert your text here]. Stay free. R 🍻 😎 🌠

[@peterainsworth8026]

Lots of local BBC studios and resources to report with. Before the Tories stripped the beeb to the bone.

[@kevinprior3549]

Not a good Christmas for Scotland that year. Goes it out saying

[@zigosaleh555]

Maybe you can call this Britain 9/11 although this tragedy happened 13 years before the actual 9/11

[@JoseAlbertoFR]

O último prego no caixão da Pam Am.

[@BobMonty99]

this was 3 hours later so were did all the people security services and reporters come from in the middle of nowhere that night ?

[@krashd]

Nearby cities via helicopter most likely, BBC Scotland is based in Glasgow and any city within 100 miles probably sent S&R helicopters to the scene. Lockerbie is in the borders, it's rural but not in the middle of nowhere.

[@lee70687]

Border Television (The regional ITV station, which in those days had much more resources) was about a half hour drive away. The staff at the station were having their Christmas party that evening and rushed to to the scene when news broke.

[@pianoman1396]

Dumfries is the nearest ‘big town’; Glasgow and Carlisle would have been no more than an hour’s drive away. The calls would have come through quite quickly.

[@jamesglass4842]

@@krashd Lockerbie is in Dumfriesshire the Eastern part of Dumfries and Galloway. The Borders is a totally different region.

[@donnak6708]

My Dad drove a bus of journalists down that night to Lockerbie. He was a bus driver in Ayr and one of many drafted in to help

[@TXnine7nine]

Good lord they were skipping around the issue for so long about it being a bomb. You could tell they were all thinking it but they were almost too afraid to even mention it as a possibility. Mid air collision, structural/mechanical failure. They hit everything but the obvious.

[@seanmcmanus2777]

It is called being responsible with the news until you actually have all the information. Otherwise it is just speculation. Also I'm sure you can be sued for it.

[@XaviMacBash]

if the media hears "bomb" they go insane, its understandable why they almost didn't want to say it

[@weespud212008]

what was the announcers name before this bulletin

[@4822ginger]

Micheal Burke

[@hootie203]

*Michael

[@widdywaddy622]

bernt carlson research him

[@markyinbelfastxx9088]

Ira and Libya hand in hand

[@seanmcmanus2777]

Someone has got to supply the bombs

[@markyinbelfastxx9088]

​@@seanmcmanus2777 typical

[@KingEric-nr8gv]

1:22

[@glosbusspotter7561]

Did pan am go bankrupt?

[@bilalahmed2123]

The Transport Vids unfortunately yes, its bankruptcy was somewhat the beginning of the end of quality of flight, and now going on a flight is like riding on the bus !

[@baseballfan99]

@@bilalahmed2123Certainty true of economy.

[@nickymorgan9549]

Mike burke

[@jeptioak]

Wow, that Pan Am number is now a sex line or whatever you call it. I did not expect that.

[@bilalahmed2123]

2:55 sounds like Sean Connery

[@michaelleonard1780]

we know who we know why it was understandabe

[@TGP109]

So you believe the lie that we killed Gaddafi's daughter too huh?

[@TheKonga88]

4:15 That's Kevin Webster.😁😁😁😁😁😁😂😂😂😂

[@hootie203]

It's not you thick prick!

[@TheKonga88]

A giant octopus pulled the plane out the sky and ate the engines.🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

[@wendyrichmond1755]

Kunta Kinte would you be laughing if your family were on it? Cunta Kinte?

[@mrkipling2201]

Wendy Richmond what an apt name. Cunta kinte. Seen the prick making other stupid comments on other disaster videos on KZbin including Lockerbie . Think they've got other accounts in other names to spread their vile filth as well

[@gordontaylor5373]

Is that supposed to be a joke? It's not the slightest bit funny.

[@TheKonga88]

@@wendyrichmond1755 I'm laughing at you all now you tards 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😷😷😷😷🥳🥳

[@TheKonga88]

@@gordontaylor5373 Do you think I care what a tard like you thinks?😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀💀☠😷😷😷😷😷🎈