ual arrived at the check-in desk in Vancouver with a
ticket for M. Singh. The airline agent later recalled
that the man was very insistent that his luggage be
sent to Delhi even without a confirmed flight from
Montreal to Delhi. After several heated words, the
agent finally agreed to transfer the luggage from
Canadian Pacific Flight 060 to Air India Flight 181/
- Later that day, an individual claiming to be
L. Singh checked into Flight 003 to Tokyo. It was
later established that the identifications of the indi-
viduals were not verified and that neither of the pas-
sengers boarded his flight.
The Explosion The explosion occurred off the
coast of Ireland at 7:14a.m.Greenwich mean time.
The aircraft relayed no distress signals. As soon as
the plane went off radar, air traffic control initiated a
marine rescue mission. The plane fell from an alti-
tude of thirty-one thousand feet and sank about
sixty-seven hundred feet into the ocean. In theory,
even if some passengers survived the detonation,
they would have drowned once they entered the
water. A total of 307 passengers and 22 crewmem-
bers were killed.
In Tokyo, Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 003 ar-
rived at 2:37p.m.local time (5:37a.m.Greenwich
mean time) from Vancouver. An hour later, approxi-
mately fifty-five minutes before the Flight 182 explo-
sion, luggage handlers were removing baggage from
Flight 003 when a bomb detonated, killing two bag-
gage handlers and injuring four others. It was later
established that the same conspirators were behind
both explosions.The Suspects The Canadian police found four
men to be the primary suspects in the bombings.
They believed Talwinder Singh Parmar to be the
leader of both operations. Parmar was the Canadian44 Air India Flight 182 bombing The Eighties in America
The crew of the Irish patrol shipEmersearches in vain for survivors of the Air India Flight 182 bombing on June 24, 1985.(AP/Wide
World Photos)