Cork’s Indian community honours the man who has tended Air India graves for the last 40 years

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

The Indian community in Cork has honoured a man who has tended the graves of two unclaimed victims of the 1985 Air India disaster for the past 40 years.

Cork Sarbojonin Durgotsab (CSD) – a group which celebrates members of the Indian community who have made Cork home – presented Finbarr Archer with its first Shamrock Lotus Award for what it described as his “extraordinary compassion, humanity and service to society.”

“This year, we are honoured to recognise Mr Finbarr Archer, whose gentle care and remembrance for the family of Annu Alexander, lost in the Air India Flight 182 tragedy for four decades, have been a light of kindness in Ireland,” the group said.

“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.”

All 329 passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 182 were killed when a bomb exploded on board the aircraft around 190km off the south-west coast of Ireland as it flew from Montreal to Delhi.

Most of the dead were of Indian descent. Among them were Annu Alexandra and her daughter Rena, the only victims to be buried in Ireland. The bodies of her husband and son were never recovered.

Mr Archer, who was working for a city undertaker at the time of the terrorist attack, was tasked with documenting details of the 132 bodies which were recovered. He realised there was nobody to claim the bodies of Annu and Rena and that they would have no-one to visit their grave in St Michael’s Cemetery in Blackrock on the city’s southside.

“I took it upon myself to look after the grave and to visit them because there was no-one else to do so. I just said at least I can go and visit and they'll have someone to visit them. I’ve been doing it for the last 40 years, going down and looking after the grave and putting flowers on it. Every second week I go down there,” he told the Irish Independent.

Mr Archer has also organised a commemoration at the graveside every year on the anniversary of the plane crash. This year, marking forty years since the tragedy, the event was attended by representatives of the Indian embassy, the Lord Mayor of Cork and other dignitaries as well as a colour party of UN veterans to carry the flags.

He hasn’t been able to find any relatives of Annu and Rena but this year he was contacted by a woman who knew Rena as a child. “There was an email from a girl who was in Montreal and who grew up with Rena. She never knew what happened or where she was. I was delighted that at least there's someone out there.”

Mr Archer said he “very humbled and extremely honoured” to receive the award. “It was a great honour to receive it and to have my family there, and to be recognized for something that I did that I thought was small.”

He now works as the official driver of the Lord Mayor of Cork, a job he has done for the past sixteen years. “It’s a great job and a very trustworthy job,” he said.