Kanishka Bombing: 25th Anniversary of world's deadliest aviation disaster
The Kanishka bombing occurred on June 23, 1985, while the plane was flying over the Atlantic Ocean en route New Delhi from Montreal via London.Air India Flight 182,‘ Kanishka,' named after Emperor Kanishka who ruled an Indian state in the second century ,exploded in midair by a bomb in Irish airspace and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 329 people on board.
The attack was widely thought to be the revenge against Operation Blue Star- the June 1984 Indian Army operation at the Golden Temple in Punjab .Two baggage handlers were also killed in a bomb blast meant for another Air India flight at Tokyo's Narita airport two hours earlier, the same day. Later it is found that both the bombs were loaded at Vancouver airport in two unaccompanied suitcases which were later transferred to the connecting Air India flight and Tokyo-bound flight at Toronto airport.
A special Commission found the accused were not guilty and they were released. The Canadian government launched a Commission of Inquiry headed by former Supreme Court justice John Major in 2006.The inquiry's investigations was completed and the report will run into 3,000 pages, released on June 17, 2010. Major found that a cascading series of errors by the Government of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service allowed the terrorist attack to take place.
Candian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met the families of Kanishka air crash victims, assured that the government would respond positively to the recommendations made by an inquiry committee and said compensation would be offered to all.
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