International - India & World   

Kanishka victims: memorial coming up

Foundation for a memorial was laid on Friday near the banks of Lake Ontario

PHOTO: AP

FLOWERS FOR DEAR ONES: People pay homage to those killed in the bombing of Kanishka, in Ottawa on Friday.

Toronto: Teary-eyed relatives of the 329 victims of Air India bombing marked the 21st anniversary of the disaster with ceremonies across Canada and broke ground for memorials, two days after a fresh judicial probe started into the country's worst terror strike.

The foundation for a memorial was laid on Friday near the banks of Lake Ontario here to honour the victims, many of them Indians, who died when a bomb exploded on Flight 182 `Kanishka' off the Irish coast. Similar memorials would be built in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. The memorial — a sundial at the foot of a wall bearing the names of the victims — is based on a similar structure in Ahakista, Ireland, and is expected to take a year to complete. It will include a walkway and a rock garden.

The memorials for the Kanishka victims are being built for the first time in Canada, although there are commemorative plaques in Ottawa and in the Ontario legislature in Toronto.

Jayashee Thampi, whose husband and daughter were killed on the Montreal-London flight, took part in the ceremony here along with Peter Van Loan, Parliamentary Secretary to Foreign Minister Peter Mackay and Mike Colle, Ontario Minister for Citizenship. — PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

149 Taliban militants killed
Prachanda proposes merger of Maoist army with Nepal Army
U.S. warns of terror cells
Communist Party undergoes reforms
Al-Qaeda steps up propaganda war
Vietnamese Prime Minister to resign
Police "ignored'' 7/7 warning
Death toll soars after repeal of helmet law
Free ride for the rich and famous
Kanishka victims: memorial coming up
Manmohan's efforts lauded

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu