Ahakista

Ahakista (Irish: Atha Ciste) is located approximately halfway along the Sheep's Head peninsula between Durrus and Kilcrohane in County Cork, Ireland. It is a wooded coastal village with a deep and sheltered harbour.

History

Archaeology

There is a stone circle in the area at Gorteanish that dates to the Bronze Age (2200 - 600 B.C.).

Air India disaster

The Air India Memorial Garden is located here and each June the local community remembers the terrorist attack of 1985 that resulted in the deaths of over 300 people. Just after 08:00 on Sunday 23 June 1985 an Air India Jumbo jet flying from Canada to India and carrying 329 people - most of them Canadian citizens of Indian origin - was approaching the southwest coast of Ireland when it was blown apart by a bomb, killing everybody on board - men, women and children. In the days that followed, a huge search was carried out by ships, planes and helicopters. Only about half the bodies were ever recovered and they were brought to the Regional Hospital in Cork. Shortly afterwards, many relatives of the dead flew from India and Canada and travelled by bus along the coast in order to be near to the place where their loved ones died. At Ahakista, they stopped and threw wreaths into the sea. They expressed a wish that some type of memorial be erected to commemorate the disaster and in the months that followed, Cork County Council purchased this site and built a memorial. It was officially opened on 23 June 1986 at a ceremony attended by the Foreign Ministers of Ireland, India and Canada. A commemoration is held each year on 23 June at 08:00. The sundial, designed by Cork sculptor, Ken Thompson, is the focal point of the garden and the sun hits the dial at the exact minute of the explosion.