Lockerbie

Lockerbie is a small town in Scotland. About 4000 people live there. The town has been there since about 900. By 1750 Lockerbie had become a significant town. From the 1780s it was a staging post on the carriage route from Glasgow to London.   Thomas Telford's Carlisle-to-Glasgow road was built through Lockerbie from 1816. The Caledonian Railway opened the line from Carlisle to Beattock through Lockerbie in 1847 and later all the way to Glasgow. 

It was devastated on 21 December 1988 when a Pan American World Airways 747-400 aeroplane crashed after a bomb exploded on board. The bomb was hidden in a hand held radio in the rear cargo hold. It had been transferred onto the flight from a connecting flight from Amsterdam. All 243 passengers and 16 crew aboard the aeroplane, and 11 people in the town  were killed. The total number of deaths caused was 270. The Libyan government was found to have organized the bombing. The United Nations placed sanctions on Libya, which stopped people buying and selling items with Libya. In 2003 Libya agreed to pay compensation to the families of the people killed.

References

Category:Towns in Dumfries and Galloway