Lockerbie and Major Transport Disasters – Are Our Transport Corporations Prepared For the Aftermath?

The report by the Scottish Sheriff into the Lockerbie air disaster of December 1988 has only recently been released, the inquiry having lasted from October 1990 to February this year.

The 99 page report details the meticulous work in reassembling the aircraft and in seeking causes of the disaster – finding among other things that “the primary cause of the said deaths was a criminal act of murder”. The inquiry determined that an amount of Semtex with an altitude-sensitive detonator had caused the aircraft to explode in flight over the town of Lockerbie in Scotland. The Semtex was contained in an interline bag placed on the Pan-American aircraft in London. The bag had earlier passed through Frankfurt airport.

While the report is a clinical and careful review of the details, the tragically long list of deceased and the scope of the report brings home to the reader the massive human suffering and the hundreds of thousands of hours dedicated to dealing with the aftermath of the accident. For the operator the effect must often be quite overwhelming when such an accident occurs. This is particularly true where it is the first major accident experienced by the particular transport operator.

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