Air India Flight 182 bombing kills 329 people

On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747 known as ‘Kanishka’, exploded mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 passengers and crew. The aircraft was en route from Toronto to London, with a planned continuation to Bombay, when it disappeared from radar at an altitude of over 9,000 meters near the coast of Ireland.

The disaster was caused by a bomb planted in the luggage hold. Investigations linked the attack to the Babbar Khalsa, a Sikh extremist group operating in Canada, seeking retaliation against the Indian government following the 1984 military operation at the Golden Temple in Punjab.

The plot involved a sophisticated dual-bombing scheme. In Vancouver, an individual using the alias ‘M. Singh’ checked luggage onto Flight 182 without boarding the plane. A second bomb was also sent on a Canadian Pacific Air flight to Tokyo, intended for another Air India aircraft. Only the bomb on Flight 182 detonated, resulting in a massive tragedy where only 131 bodies were recovered from the ocean.