‘Selfless service’: Special honour for Cork man who tends to Air India grave

A man who has spent 40 years tending to the graves of the only two victims of the Air India disaster who were left unclaimed has been honoured by an Indian cultural group in Cork.

All 329 passengers and crew on board Air India flight 182 were killed on June 23, 1985, when a bomb exploded on board the aircraft as it cruised some 190km off the south-west coast of Ireland on route from Montreal to Delhi.

The flight was brought down off the coast of Cork. It remains the worst aviation disaster in Irish and Canadian history.

Most of the dead were of Indian descent.

Annu Alexandra, who was originally from Kerala in India, and her daughter Rena were among the victims.

The bodies of her husband and her son were never recovered.

Finbarr Archer, who is the official driver to the Lord Mayor of Cork, was working for an undertaker at the time of the terrorist attack.

Tasked with documenting details of the 132 bodies which were recovered, he realised there was nobody left to claim the bodies of Annu and Rena.

Single grave

The mother and daughter were subsequently buried together in a single grave in St Michael’s Cemetery in Blackrock in Cork city.

Along with tending to their grave, Mr Archer organises an annual commemorative ceremony at the cemetery to coincide with the anniversary of the Air India disaster.

On Saturday, Cork Sarbojonin Durgotsab presented its first-ever Shamrock Lotus Award to Mr Archer, citing his “extraordinary compassion, humanity, and service to society”.

“This award recognises his decades-long devotion in caring for the grave of an Indian mother and daughter lost in the Air India Flight 182 tragedy, reflecting unwavering dedication, compassion, and humanity that inspire our entire Indian community.

“His actions embody the spirit of selfless service, community bonding, and the profound impact one individual can have in honouring others.

“May this award, uniting the shamrock of Ireland and the lotus of India, forever remind us that kindness knows no borders and remembrance has no end,” the close-knit group added.

Ceremony

On June 23 last, some 60 relatives of the victims were among those who attended a ceremony in Ahakista, West Cork, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Air India plane crash.

A remembrance ceremony takes places annually in the village of Ahakista, which is the nearest point on land to the crash site.

Following the ceremony, family members laid wreaths at a monument which bears the names of all those who died in the tragedy.

The plane crash led to the biggest search and recovery operation ever mounted by the State.