The grim task of counting the bodies from the worst disaster to ever hit Scotland was left for the small police force in Dumfries and Galloway to organise. It was a harrowing task.

Early on it was clear that no one on Pan Am Flight 103 could have survived the crash after the jumbo jet dropped from 31,000 feet in the sky at more than 500mph. The impact registered 1.6 on the Richter scale.

The 150-foot long crater left in the Sherwood area of Lockerbie became a lasting image of the destruction. It would be learned much later that remnants of the plane were found in an area 845 square miles, covering southern Scotland and northern England.

All 243 passengers and 16 Pan Am crew perished. Another 11 residents died - many of them were never found. Days would pass before the final figures were confirmed.

It was left to people like Angus Kennedy to share the devastating news with the media. He was the chief superintendent at Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary. His boss, Chief Constable John Boyd, led the early investigation before it became a joint police operation with Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, and Cumbria officials.

Mr Kennedy spoke with Scottish Television's Geoff Brown in a live interview on December 22, 1988 – about 24 hours after Lockerbie was thrown into the international spotlight. The police official spoke of the disaster and the ongoing search operation. It fell to him to tell the world.

It fell to us to digest the unimaginable.