Rockaway remembers lives lost during fatal plane crash
BY TODD MAISEL
Even after 19 years since the crash
of American Airlines Flight 587 in
the Rockaways on Nov. 12, 2001, the
emotions of the families left behind
remains as raw as the rainy, cold
weather experienced at the annual
memorial service held last week.
Families and elected officials
gathered once again for the anniversary
of that fateful crash in Belle
Harbor, Rockaway, that killed 260
passengers and crew. The crash had
occurred nearly seven weeks after
the 9/11 attacks, and it forced first
responders combing the remains of
the World Trade Center site to rush
to Queens and respond to the latest
tragedy.
Every year since, the ceremony
has been held at a memorial constructed
on Beach 116th Street, near
where the plane went down, and has
become a mecca for families and
friends to visit to remember those
lost and to memorialize the passengers
by reading their names.
Flight 587 was in route to the Dominican
Republic, and many of those
on board the doomed airline hailed
from large Dominican communities
of the Bronx and upper Manhattan.
At exactly 9:15 a.m., a bell tolled by
a firefighter marked the moment the
plane crashed into a home. A moment
of silence follows, with many still
shedding tears for those they lost.
Mourners sat in the rain as the
names were read. Also speaking was
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was accompanied
by Eligio Jaquez, the consul
general for the Dominican Republic,
where many of those who were killed
had immigrated from and had family.
“We want to let our loved ones
know that where ever they are, we
still miss them,” said Belkis Lora,
who read some of the names of
those killed, including her brother
Jose Francisco Lora, whom she still
mourns.
“This day is pretty painful for us,
but we have to honor their memories,”
Belkis said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio hugs speaker Belkis Lora, who lost her brother Jose Francisco Lora. Photo by Todd Maisel
Mayor de Blasio called the memorial
a “source of hope and comfort” to
those who lost loved ones.
“Even with the challenges of the
coronavirus, we still come here, we
still come together in solidarity with
each other, feeling the love and support
for each other,” de Blasio said.
“You think back to the time of the
crash, we think of when you heard on
the news — we always hoped we would
never see anything like it again. The
fact that you are still here, you share
the loss and the love for each other
— a reminder of the strength people
have to endure while remembering
those they’ve lost.”
TIMESLEDGER |8 QNS.COM | NOV. 20-NOV. 26, 2020
Though it was initially feared that
Flight 587 was brought down intentionally,
a National Transportation
Safety Board investigation revealed
that “aggressive use of the rudder
that snapped off the vertical stabilizer”
causing the plane engines to
separate and then dive into a house.
Yvette Cecaris sat with her best
friend’s daughter Kiana George; her
mom Lialette Yesenia Batista Ramirez
died in the crash. Kiana was only 5
years old at the time of the crash.
“She was on the plane with her
newlywed husband, so every year for
support, I come, she wants to come —
but she has no memory of her mother,”
she said as they sat under an
umbrella waiting for the ceremony.
“Rain, sleet, no matter the weather,
we come. I was just telling her, it does
get easier for some of us — some of
us are still holding on. This is something
that I feel I need to do.”
“I’m her friend and I come for her
son, she does not want to forget,”
said Rafaella Rojas, who came with
her friend Olga Sanchez to honor her
son Feliz Antonio Sanchez, 28. “She
wants to keep remembering him because
she loved him so much.”
After the reading of the names
and speeches, the mourners joined
the mayor and consul general laying
a wreath at the memorial. Mourners
then put flowers into the memorial.
Nearby was Nannette Forteza,
whose husband Anthony Salvador
Forteza Garcia was on board Flight
587 hoping to visit family in his native
Dominican Republic. She stood
Thursday looking out toward the Atlantic
Ocean, clutching red roses.
“I will never forget the love of my
life,” she wept while staring out into
the rainy sky.
/QNS.COM
