Lockerbie families mark anniversary

Dec 21 2008

Loved ones of the 270 victims of the Lockerbie bombing will gather for memorial services on Sunday to mark the 20th anniversary of the atrocity.

Pan Am Flight 103 from Heathrow to New York exploded in the skies above the Scottish town on this date in 1988.

All 259 people on board were killed and a further 11 died on the ground below.

Services will be held in Lockerbie, at Heathrow and in the US to remember those who lost their lives.

In the Borders town a commemorative wreath will be laid at the Dryfesdale Cemetery garden of remembrance.

Dryfesdale and Tundergarth churches are to hold services to coincide with the moment just after 7pm when the plane came down.

Up to 300 people, including relatives and some former employees of the Pan Am airline are expected to attend a private memorial at Heathrow Airport chapel led by the Rev John Mosey, whose daughter Helga died in the disaster.

New York State`s Syracuse University, which lost 35 students in the bombing, will hold a memorial and some 500 people are expected to attend a remembrance services at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington DC. Prayers will be said and the names of all the victims read out at the Pan Am 103 cairn at the cemetery.

Scotland`s First Minister Alex Salmond said: "As we approach the 20th anniversary of that harrowing evening and appalling tragedy, my thoughts, and those of my colleagues in the Scottish Government, are with the people of Lockerbie, and with all those who were affected by the events of 21st December 1988 on both sides of the Atlantic."

Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was found guilty of mass murder following a trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in 2001. Al Megrahi, who was recently diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, has consistently denied responsibility for the bombing and a second appeal against his conviction will be heard by the courts next year.