The lives of 270 people were claimed after a bomb exploded onboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988. The father of a Lockerbie bombing victim has urged Sir Keir Starmer to publish everything the UK knows about the tragedy. Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died on the plane after it exploded over the Scottish town, claimed it was “fishy” so much information had not been released about the disaster.
![[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted in connection with the Lockerbie bombing (Crown Office/PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/09/13/ac20340befc3c0d2ab6d49cc2dbac84bY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzMzODMzODY2-2.70394267.jpg)
It comes exactly 36 years since the attack which claimed the lives of 270 people four days before Christmas on 21 December 1988. “Here we are, 36 years down the road, and we know a lot of material has been kept out of public view,” Mr Swire told BBC News.
![[Wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 near Lockerbie after it exploded just minutes after taking off from London Heathrow]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2014/03/11/19/pg-10-lockerbie-1-getty.jpg)
“Why isn’t it in the public interest to release it after 36 years? I think that’s something a lot of people would think is pretty fishy.”. In 2001, former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the murders of 270 people by the introduction of an explosive device onto a civilian aircraft.
![[The bombing claimed 270 lives, including 11 on the ground in Lockerbie (PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/09/26/11/a9356f1b7ee70e330b4495f440689900Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzI3NDMxODE4-2.1121977.jpg)
However, prosecutors have always maintained that Megrahi acted with others in carrying out the attack. Libyan national Abu Agila Masud, who is alleged to have helped make the bomb, is due to go on trial in the US in May 2025 facing three charges, which he denies.
Here, The Independent takes has put together a timeline of the tragedy, its aftermath and what is known about the atrocity. 21 December 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes 31,000 feet over Lockerbie, 38 minutes after take-off from London. The 259 people on board the Boeing 747 are killed, along with 11 people on the ground.
