Air India Disaster 30th Anniversary: 30-year vigil for mother and daughter victims of Air India

Only a handful of people know the existence of the only burial plot in Ireland of two of the Air India disaster victims, and one man has lovingly tended it for 30 years.

Finbarr Archer had been tasked in June 1985 of documenting details of many of the 131 bodies recovered after 329 people died in the jumbo jet explosion.

A 24-year-old, at the time, he had been working for a Cork city undertaker when the bombing occurred.

However, he now visits the graves of victims Anna Maria Alexandra and her daughter Rena, who had been laid to rest in at St Michael’s Cemetery in Blackrock, Cork. He had attended the funeral of the pair.

“They were the only two bodies buried in Ireland and I don’t know why. Members of the emergency services attended the funeral as well but, from what I can remember, I don’t think any of their relatives were there or if other family members had been killed in the explosion,” said Finbarr. He had driven around 30 victims’ families to a makeshift mortuary in the then regional hospital. “Their names are on the black headstone and so too the fact they died in the Air India tragedy.” The cemetery is lawned and well-maintained by Cork City Council employees.

Regularly, Finbarr makes a trip to the graveside to put in fresh flowers. “It must have been very sad for the relatives. I can’t imagine how they felt when they got the call. It’s sad, it’s terrible,” he said.

Meanwhile, following this morning’s commemoration in west Cork, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan was due to meet, separately, with Indian and Canadian ministers.

He will discuss UN peacekeeping and reform with Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, Vijay Kumar Singh while discuss efforts to further develop Irish-Canadian links with its Minister of Justice Peter MacKay.