Facts & Figures
The essentials, at a glance.
A concise reference to the flight, the attack, the human cost and the investigation. Figures are drawn from the public historical record.
The flight
- Flight
- Pan Am 103Pan American World Airways
- Route
- LHR → JFKLondon Heathrow to New York
- Aircraft
- Boeing 747-121Wide-body "jumbo jet"
- Registration
- N739PAClipper Maid of the Seas
- Departed
- 18:25 GMTFrom Heathrow
- Time airborne
- ~38 minBefore the explosion
The attack
- Date
- 21 Dec 1988Wednesday evening
- Detonation
- 19:02 GMTBomb in the forward hold
- Altitude
- 31,000 ftClimbing over the border
- Explosive
- SemtexHidden in a radio-cassette player
- Concealed in
- SuitcaseAn unaccompanied Samsonite case
- Debris field
- 845 mi²Scotland & N. England
The human cost
- Total lives lost
- 270The deadliest terror attack in UK history
- Aboard
- 259243 passengers · 16 crew
- On the ground
- 11Residents of Sherwood Crescent
- Nations
- 21Nationalities of the victims
- US citizens
- 190The largest group
- Syracuse students
- 35Returning from a term abroad
The investigation & justice
- Inquiry
- Largest in UKLed by Dumfries & Galloway Police with the FBI
- Charged
- Nov 1991Two Libyan nationals
- Trial
- Camp ZeistA Scottish court in the Netherlands
- Convicted
- 31 Jan 2001Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
- Responsibility
- 2003Accepted by Libya
- Further charge
- 2020Alleged bomb-maker, later in US custody
For the fuller story, see What Happened, the Timeline and the Aftermath. For where these figures come from, see Sources.