WORLD : Scots Open Inquiry on Lockerbie
Twenty-one months after Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, a public inquiry opened today focusing on how similar terrorist bombings can be prevented.
The hearing will look into security lapses but not criminal responsibility for the crash on Dec. 21, 1988, that killed 270 people. That key question is still being investigated by police.
The fathers of two victims urged that the presiding judge call airline and government witnesses to account for the tragedy.
“Hopefully, they will go into the culpability of Pan Am, the State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, the British government and the German government,” said George Williams of Joppatowne, Md.
Williams, whose son, Geordie, 24, was killed in the crash, was among about 30 spectators at the start of the inquiry.
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