We were surrounded by bodies everywhere

A CHOPPY sea littered with bodies, suitcases, seats and brightly-coloured clothes was how an Irish naval officer yesterday described the aftermath of the Air India explosion in 1985.

Relatives of those who died in the atrocity sobbed as the first witnesses from Ireland were called to Canada to give harrowing evidence at the trial of two men accused of planting a bomb that killed 329 people.

Evidence from two Irish naval officers and a merchant seaman was heard at the trial, along with a recording from Shannon Aircraft Control after the doomed Flight 182 disappeared off the radar.