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Opinion July 4, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Blast Caused Crash

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on July 04, 1985.

July 4, 2025 08:30 AM IST First published on: Jul 4, 2025 at 07:12 AM IST

The Indian team that came to investigate the causes of the Air India jumbo jet crash into the Atlantic has come to the conclusion that sabotage, probably a time bomb or explosives planted on the plane, may have caused the explosion in mid-air. The conclusion, for the present, is “preliminary” and indicates that there was no structural defect with the plane.

Indo-Pak Agreement

An agreement between India and Pakistan for co-operation in agriculture and allied fields will be signed in New Delhi before the conclusion session of the three-day ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pakistan Joint Commission. An External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters that the four sub-commissions of the Joint Commission had more or less completed their work and a cultural agreement had also been finalised.

EC seeks opinions

The Election Commission has sought the views of the Centre and the Punjab government on holding parliamentary and assembly elections in the state. The Chief Election Commissioner, R K Trivedi, told UNI that he had written in this regard to the Punjab government and the Union Home Ministry on June 26, the day the five-year-term of the state legislative assembly expired. He also wanted to know whether President’s Rule would be revoked before October 5.

Missing ships mystery

Two Indian ships with a total of 44 crew members on board have been missing since June 21, 1985 — one 90 miles north of Sri Lanka’s east coast port Trincomalee and the other in the Bay of Bengal. An extensive search by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard is yet to yield any clue about their whereabouts.

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