Air Lanka Flight 512

Air Lanka Flight UL512

A L-1011 Tristar similar to 4R-ULD.
Occurrence summary
Date	3 May 1986
Summary	Bombing
Site	Bandaranaike International Airport
Passengers	128
Crew	20
Injuries	41
Fatalities	21
Survivors	129
Aircraft type	Lockheed L-1011-385 TriStar
Aircraft name	City of Colombo
Operator	Air Lanka
Registration	4R-ULD
Flight origin	Gatwick Airport, London United Kingdom
Stopover	Zurich Airport, Zurich Switzerland
2nd stopover	Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Last stopover	Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Destination	Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, Malé, Maldives

Air Lanka Flight 512 was an 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 an explosion ripped the plane in two. The flight carried mainly French, West German, British and Japanese tourists. 21 people were killed on the plane which included 13 foreigners – of whom two were British, 2 West German, 3 French, 2 Japanese, one Maldivian and one Pakistani – and injuring 41.

The bomb may have been placed in crates of meat and vegetables being freighted to the Republic of Maldives. The Sri Lankan government concluded that the bomb was planted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to sabotage peace talks between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. They reported that 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 terrorist groups.

See also

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