12 hours ago
40th anniversary of Air India disaster remembered in Cork
A memorial service to mark the 40th anniversary of the Air India plane crash is taking place in west Cork.
Air India Flight 182 was en route from Montreal to New Delhi when a bomb exploded as it was flying off the southwest coast of Ireland on 23 June 1985, killing all 329 people on board.
Many of their relatives have travelled to the village of Ahakista to pay their respects.
Ahakista village, near Bantry, is the nearest point on land to where the plane exploded.
This year, the 40th anniversary of the worst aviation disaster in Irish and Canadian history, around 60 relatives of the victims are expected to attend the annual commemoration which will begin with a minute of silence at 8.13am - the exact time the bomb planted by Sihk terrorists, exploded.
The families of the victims have been joined by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, senior government ministers from Canada and India, as well as both country's ambassadors to Ireland.
Many of those who took part in what was the biggest search and recovery operation ever mounted by the State are also at the ceremony to pay their respects.
A retired Irish Navy captain said he is still impacted today by what he witnessed in 1985.
James Robinson was the Lieutenant Commander on Le Aisling - one of five ships at the scene - said the vessel was fairly close to the Kerry coast when they picked up a radio message from Valencia to say a plane had gone missing from radar screens.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said the crew had been preparing for a rescue mission and were getting soup ready for survivors before they got to the scene, when they quickly realised the mission was going to be a recovery one.
At the time they just got on with the job, he said, and the enormity of what had taken place only dawned on them later.
I felt great pride in my crew, he said, they were young Irish people who did a remarkable job and asked for nothing in return.
