A MEMORIAL for the 270 people killed when a plane exploded over Lockerbie 30 years ago was held in the Scottish town yesterday.
Local politicians, relatives of the victims and a representative for the Queen attended the low-key service at Dryfesdale Cemetery.
Wreaths were laid in the Dumfries and Galloway town where the wreckage of the bombed Pan Am Flight 103 came down on the night of December 21, 1988. Eleven people died in Lockerbie, along with the 259 passengers and crew on board the New York-bound plane which had set off from Heathrow.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Thinking today of Lockerbie and all those whose lives were lost or deeply affected by what happened on this day 30 years ago.”
A silence was held before wreaths were laid at the foot of a memorial containing the names of all 270 victims. The Queen’s representative, Lord Lieutenant of Dumfriesshire Fiona Armstrong, laid the first tribute as a piper player in the cemetery. She was followed by Scotland’s Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC and Scottish Secretary David Mundell. Pupils from local schools and Scouts and Guides groups and representatives of the emergency services laid flowers before the families of victims approached the memorial.
Mundell said: “On this 30th anniversary of the bombing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie, my thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the 270 men, women and children who perished on that terrible night, and everyone else whose life has been touched by the event.”
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