This is a podcast about some of the most spectacular terrorist attacks in history. In this podcast, I tell the stories of the terrorists, their victims and the consequences for the survivors and society. About people who will sacrifice their own lives or the lives of others for a political, economic, religious or social goal. Who was behind it, who did they want to hit, and why. My name is Natasja, and I am a journalist with a Master's in Middle Eastern Studies. Unfortunately, I have experienced terror in my life several times. The massacre in Utøya in Norway happened half an hour's drive from where some of my immediate family lives. A good friend of mine was only a meter away from one of the suicide bombers on the London Underground in 2005. He miraculously escaped with two burst eardrums. Finally, I worked in Afghanistan some time ago, where a major terrorist attack on a local cafe claimed the lives of 21 people. Among other things, the owner, who had served me a layer cake on my birthday the year before. Fortunately, I have never been in the middle of a terrorist attack myself...
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episode 8: The mysterious mr Singh
It was Saturday, June 22, 1985, at 13:30 in the afternoon in the city of Vancouver in Canada. The phone rang at the Air India ticket office.
"Hello. It is "Manjit Singh". I would like to confirm that my bookings on Air India Flight 181/182”.
The friendly employee at the office informed him that he was still on the waiting list and offered him a number of alternatives, which he declined.
At 3:50 p.m., 2 ½ hours later, Manjit Singh, who had purchased tickets under the name M. Singh, checked into a busy 30-person line for Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 60 from Vancouver to Montreal with a stopover in Toronto. He asked employee Jeannie Adams to check in his dark brown, hard Samsonite suitcase and have it transferred to Flight 182 to India. She initially refused his request to check the luggage on another flight as his seats from Toronto to Montreal and Montreal to Bombay were unconfirmed. When he started to leave, she relented and agreed to accept the suitcase, but told him to check in again with Air India in Toronto. It was to be a decision that Jeannie Adams bitterly regretted. 15 hours later, Air India Flight 182, carrying M. Singh's brown suitcase containing a powerful bomb, crashed into the sea, killing all 307 passengers and 22 crew members. A tragedy which was to become the worst terrorist attack on an aircraft before 9/11.
Sources used in this episode:
https://theprint.in/past-forward/air-india-ki-flight-mat-lo-how-canadian-neglect-led-up-to-kanishka-bombing-38-yrs-ago/1638383/ http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jun/29/slide-show-1-children-shouldnt-die-in-front-of-their-parents.htm#3 https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82216&page=1
https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/1984-operation-blue-star-amritsar-1251681-2018-06-06
https://www.ctvnews.ca/man-told-blatant-lies-at-air-india-trial-court-1.553030
https://time.com/4672937/inderjit-singh-reyat-air-india-bombing-canada-freed/
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/06/23/air-india-182-anniversary-poll/
Music used in this episode
Dramatic Suspense: https://pixabay.com/music/suspense-dramatic-suspense-116798/ by https://pixabay.com/users/ashot-danielyan-composer-27049680/
Anuch – Our champion - Music from #Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/anuch/our-champion
Lotus Morning No Gongs No Drums - P5 by AbbasPremjee: https://www.pond5.com/royalty-free-music/item/58734641-lotus-morning-no-gongs-no-drums
Himalayas by SergeQuadrado: https://pixabay.com/music/world-himalayas-13503/
India -Olistik Sound Project by Patrizio Yoga: https://pixabay.com/music/meditationspiritual-india-olistik-sound-project-patrizio-yoga-13757/
Bollywood Sad Bgm by KamaleshSiddu: https://pixabay.com/music/main-title-bollywood-sad-bgm-14283/
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