Ahakista
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Ahakista Atha Ciste |
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| Village | |
 Ahakista
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| Coordinates: 51°36′N 9°38′W / 51.600°N 9.633°WCoordinates: 51°36′N 9°38′W / 51.600°N 9.633°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Cork |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC+1) |
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.
There is a stone circle in the area at Gorteanish that dates to the Bronze Age (2200 – 600 B.C.).
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.
Ahakista has a church and two pubs – both with beer gardens and sea views. One pub is known as the 'tin pub'. Other amenities include a wine shop, two Bed and Breakfasts, several self-catering accommodations (two of which are known as "Ahakista Escape") and a garden centre. There is a small sandy beach, and the 90 kilometres (56 miles) Sheep's Head Way marked trail crosses through the village. In August 2008 this Walkway became one of the first four publicly funded walkways in Ireland – following agreement between the Department of Rural Affairs and the Irish Farmers Association.
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Wikipedia