Canadian PM calls Air India bombing an act of 'malice'
Toronto, June 24 : Canada remembered the 329 victims of Air India Kanishka Flight 182 which was blown off mid-air on June 23, 1985.
The day is marked as National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism in Canada.
Paying tributes to the victims, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday said: "On this day in 1985, Canadians awoke to news that defied belief, and left our country in a state of shock and suffering."
"The Air India bombing remains the single worst terrorist attack in Canada's history. This horrific act of malice and destruction left families and friends grieving the loss of loved ones, and brought pain that will never completely go away," the Prime Minister said.
"On behalf of the Government of Canada, I extend my condolences to everyone everywhere who has lost loved ones to terrorism. We also thank and honour those who work each day to keep our citizens, communities, and country safe," he added.
Air India Flight 182, bound for London after picking up passengers in Toronto and Montreal, disappeared from radar off the coast of Ireland. A bomb - planted on the plane in Canada in an act of terror - exploded on board, killing 329 innocent people, including 280 Canadians.
According to the Air India inquiry, two bomb-carrying suitcases were loaded by pro-Khalistani militants at Vancouver airport, to be transferred to Air India flights in Toronto and Tokyo airports.
While the bomb transferred on Air India Flight 182 in Toronto exploded in mid-air off the Irish coast, killing all 329 people and crew on board, the other bomb went off at Narita airport in Tokyo during transfer on to Mumbai-bound Air India flight, killing two baggage handlers.
Only one person - Inderjit Singh Reyat - was ever convicted the worst mass murder in Canadian history.
In British Columbia, Premier John Horgan also paid tributes the the Air India victims as flags at the Parliament Buildings in Victoria flew at half-mast to mark the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism.
"Canadians will never forget this act of terror that took the lives of 329 people, including 280 Canadians. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims,'' the Premier said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
