Pan Am 103 memorial
/ file photo
SYRACUSE -- It is a somber day on at Syracuse University as the campus pauses to remember the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing.
It was 23 years ago today that the plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in a horrific terrorist attack. In all, 207 people were killed including 40 with ties to Central New York, 35 of whom were Syracuse University students studying abroad.
For the families of the victims, it has been years filled with many emotions. The anger, pain, shock and horror of that dreadful day still sticks with many of them as they remember their loved ones all these years later.
On this day, the Syracuse University campus reflects back and honors the victims in a special ceremony at Hendricks Chapel where the names of the 35 student victims and a couple from Clay who died in the crash are being read aloud. A similar remembrance is taking place at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington D.C. as well.
The only man ever convicted in the Pan Am bombing, Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi, was released from prison in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. This fall, he was reportedly in a coma and near death.
