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On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to London, carrying passengers and luggage loaded in Vancouver, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland. All 329 people on board were killed.
The same night, a suitcase loaded in Vancouver onto Canadian Airlines Flight 003 exploded in the Narita, Japan airport as it was being transferred to Air India Flight 301. Two baggage handlers were killed and four additional people were injured.
Since that time, the incidents have been under investigation by various agencies from around the world. In October 27, 2000 — 15 years after the investigation into the Air India tragedy began — Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, both Sikh militants and residents of British Columbia, were arrested in connection with the bombings.
On April 28, 2003, the trial of the two main accused in the Air India case, began in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, in a special courtroom in Vancouver. Prosecutors say that the bombings were the act of a group of Sikh separatists based in Vancouver that conspired to get revenge on the Indian government for the Indian army's 1984 attack on Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India.
The Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia has put together a web site to help the public stay informed on this trial, considered to be one of the most complex trials in Canadian history. Follow the Air India trial as it unfolds at ON TRIAL / Air India.
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