[NYC4Life]

Updated 4:59 PM
Memorial Service Held In Remembrance Of Flight 587 Crash Victims
By: Roger Clark

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stori...-crash-victims

A solemn memorial service was held this morning to mark the ninth anniversary of the Flight 587 crash in Belle Harbor, Queens.

The ceremony featured the reading of the names of all 265 who perished, followed by remarks from the mayor and a procession of loved ones of the victims leaving flowers and trinkets by the memorial on Beach 116th Street at Rockaway Boulevard – 15 blocks from the 2001 crash site.

"In the span of those nine year,s our lives have changed and so has the great city around us," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "But what has remained is the unity of this group."

Flight 587 had just taken off from John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to the Dominican Republic when it crashed at 9:16 a.m.

All 251 passengers and nine crew members were killed, along with five people on the ground. Many of those killed were of Dominican descent and the crash was heavily felt in the Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights.

"My sister came to my house crying, she was crawling, she couldn't even talk, she just screamed," recalled Karen Tavarez, who lost both her mother and her three-year-old nephew in the crash.



Many say time does not really heal the wounds.

"Sometimes the emotion just comes back," said Anna Inez Reyes, whose brother was killed when Flight 587 crashed. "Especially when you're walking around this area that you know where the tragedy was, you came after. So, it brings back sad memories, but it also brings happy memories because we were discussing stuff about him, like, 'you remember this?' It brings both emotions."

"These nine years, have helped me get used to life without him," said Belkis Lora, whose brother was also killed in the crash. "But the pain is still there. Every morning when I wake up, I always remember the day that I took him to the airport. It's really hard."

Federal investigators determined the crash was caused when the plane's tail broke off due to overuse of the rudder in the wake of turbulence from another flight.

Copyright © 2010 NY1 News. All rights reserved.