Air Lanka Flight 512

Infobox Airliner accident|name=Air Lanka Flight UL512
Date=May 03, 1986
Type=Terrorist bombing
Site=Bandaranaike International Airport
Fatalities=21
Injuries=41
Aircraft Type=Tristar
Tail Number=
Ship name=
Origin=London Gatwick Airport, London, England, United Kingdom flagicon|United Kingdom
Stopover= Zurich, Switzerland flagicon|Switzerland
Stopover1= Dubai, United Arab Emirates flagicon|United Arab Emirates
Last stopover=Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka flagicon|Sri Lanka
Destination= Male,Maldives flagicon|Maldives
Operator=Air Lanka
Passengers=128
Crew=20
Survivors =129

Air Lanka Flight UL512 was a Air Lanka Lockheed L-1011 Tristar which had arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport from London Gatwick Airport via Zurich and Dubai and was about to fly on to the Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean when the explosion ripped the plane in two. The flight carried mainly French, British and Japanese tourists. 21 people were killed on the plane which included 13 foreigners - of whom 2 British, 2 German, 3 French, 2 Japanese, 1 Maldivian and 1 Pakistani and injuring 41.cite news
author =
title = 1986: Bomb kills 21 in Sri Lanka
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/3/newsid_2481000/2481291.stm
work = BBC
date =
accessdate = 2008-04-30 ]

The bomb may have been placed in crates of meat and vegetables being freighted to the Republic of Maldives. It is believed the bomb was planted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to sabotage peace talks between the Tamils and the Sri Lankan government. A search of the aircraft the next day uncovered a parcel containing uniforms with the insignia of the Black Tigers, the commando wing of LTTE, the fiercest of the Tamil guerrilla groups. [ [http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0283.shtml Commercial Airliner Bombings] ]

See also

* List of attacks attributed to the LTTE
* Sri Lankan Civil War

References

External links