Memorial service for victims of Kegworth air disaster

Memorial service for victims of Kegworth air disaster

1 January 2019

A MEMORIAL service for victims of the Kegworth air disaster, which claimed the lives of several local people and left a number of others seriously injured, takes place next Tuesday — 30 years after the crash which made headlines across the globe.

Twenty nine people from Northern Ireland were among 47 passengers killed when the doomed British Midland flight from London to Belfast crashed.

Former Newcastle couple John and Karen Campbell – who were both police officers and had recently moved to Ballygowan — died in the crash.

Among the 74 injured were Strangford man Alan Johnston, former Castleward head gardener Alistair McCrory and former Downpatrick man Brian Hodges. Also injured in the air crash was former Ballynahinch woman, Grainne Doherty.

Mr Johnston, who had travelled to London to visit his first grandchild and was sitting in the mid-section of the aircraft, suffered severe pelvic injuries in the crash. 

He lay trapped inside the wreckage for around two hours before being released by members of the emergency services.

Mr McCrory also sustained pelvic injuries and a dislocated shoulder. Mr Hodges was thrown clear of the plane as it ploughed into the motorway embankment and was found hanging upside down on a tree.

He suffered a broken vertebrae, while a soldier attached to the Army Catering Corps with the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers based at the former Ballykinlar army camp, was also along the injured.

The British Midland Boeing 737 flight from London Heathrow to Belfast International plummeted to the ground after an engine malfunctioned on January 8, 1989.

Flight 92 crashed at an embankment beside the M1, metres from East Midlands Airport’s runway, where it was due to make an emergency landing, with those on board that night saying that what they experienced will stay with them for ever.

Next week’s memorial service is being organised by Kegwoth Parish Council which has invited people from Northern Ireland to attend the event being held at St Andrew’s Parish Church at 11am.

The Parish Council said the crash still affects the local community who have not forgotten about what happened that fateful night.

Confusion over whether the left or right engine had failed had led to the relatively new airline gliding with no power. On its approach to East Midlands airport, it slammed into an embankment. Miraculously, no one on the busy motorway was injured.

The Derbyshire airport has pledged money to next week’s memorial service to mark the 30th anniversary of the air disaster.

“East Midlands airport has very close links with its neighbouring communities,” said a spokesperson.

“Staff from this airport, some of whom still work here, helped with the rescue effort on that terrible night. For those who remember it clearly and others whose lives were touched by the events of January 8, 1989, it is important that we support the 30th anniversary commemoration of the Kegworth air disaster.”

Next week’s service takes place at St Andrew’s church and wreaths will be laid at the memorial to those who died in the adjoining cemetery. The soil on which the aircraft landed was moved to Kegworth cemetery.