What happened With Emperor Kanishka, Air India Flight 182 That Was Bombed Mid-Air In 1985

In the wee hours of Sunday, June 23, 1985, an Air India Boeing, Kanishka, named after the Kushan dynasty emperor Kanishka, flying from Toronto to Bombay, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 329 passengers and 22 crew members.

Written by: Analiza Pathak

Updated: July 15, 2022, 3:38 PM IST

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Irish sailors unload on June 29, 1985 at a navy base in Cork, debris from the Air India Flight 182 that crashed off the coast of Ireland on June 23. The Boeing 747 was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9400 metres), killing 329 people. (AFP)

Surrey: It was a regular Sunday morning on June 23, 1985 when an Air India Flight 182, who was also known by the name “Emperor Kanishka” took off from Montreal in Canada only to never reached its destination to Mumbai. Boeing 747 aircraft flying on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Mumbai route had 329 on board when it exploded mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean in Irish airspace at an altitude of 31,000 feet turning the ocean into a watery grave. The blast killed all on board — 268 Canadian citizens (many of them of Indian origin), 27 Britons and 24 Indians. The bombing of Air India Flight 182 is considered the deadliest aviation incident in the history until the September 11 attacks in 2001.

The attack was carried out by Sikh militants based in Canada, mostly Babbar Khalsa International organization members, a sectarian group calling for a Sikh sovereign state of Khalistan.

So What had happened with Emperor Kanishka or Air India Flight 182 in 1985

1. The attack is said to have been triggered because of the simmering anger among the Sikh militant group with India’s involvement in Operation Blue Star which killed several Sikh militants within the premises of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab.
2. A day before the bombing, on 22 June, Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only convict in the bombing, bought 12 volt batteries, and asked for a friend’s car to deliver some things to the airport.
3. Later, a man called “Manjit Singh” called the airlines to ask whether his ticket on Flight 182 was confirmed; he was told that he was on the waiting list.
4. This man, then, asked for his Samsonite suitcase to be checked into this flight regardless.
5. On the same day, the X-ray machine had broken down at the Montreal airport and security was using the PDD-4 hand-held explosive sniffer.
6. They were told that the sniffer would emit loud screams near explosives. A soft beep was heard near a red suitcase, but it was allowed to pass, since security personnel were not told what to do when the sniffer emitted soft noises.
7. There was tight security and extra policemen at the airport on Air India’s request, after threats from Sikh militants.
8. However, these weren’t the only warnings. Earlier in 1984, at least two informers as well as a man called Harmail Singh Grewal had notified the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) about potential flight bombings. These reports were dismissed as unreliable.
9. Air India Flight 182 took off from Montreal, Canada in the early hours of 23 June 1985. The final destination was Mumbai, with stops at London and New Delhi. It was a Boeing 747, named ‘Emperor Kanishka’.
10. The bomb on the Air India flight was checked into cargo in a suitcase during a stopover in Vancouver
11. When it departed for the second leg from London was the last time the flight made contact, five minutes later it vanished from the radar screen.
12. Around 0715 GMT, the plane was cruising at 31,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean in Irish airspace when a bomb detonated in the carriage.

The bombing of Air India Flight 182 coincided with the Narita Airport bombing. Investigators found the two plots were linked and eventually concluded that those responsible were aiming for a double aircraft bombing. However, the bomb at Narita exploded, killing two baggage handlers before it was loaded onto the plane due to the perpetrators failing to take into account that Japan does not observe daylight saving time.