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CNN Live At Daybreak

Victim's Families of Flight 587 Mourn their Loss

Aired November 14, 2001 - 06:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we are learning more today about the people who died in the crash as well as about the community organizations that are reaching out to help their grieving families.

Here's CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I drove a bus out.

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are faces of pain, the relatives of Flight 587 passenger Maria Rodriguez, who was traveling to the Dominican Republic to surprise her mother. Her relatives were proud of her tenacity. After 16 years in the United States, she was doing well. A beautician by trade, she had purchased her own salon.

Her brother, Miguel.

MIGUEL (through translator): It hurts. Everything hurts, but there're different types of pain. In our case, she was a person who was overflowing with life. She was a happy person. We had celebrated her trip. It was just so important that the trip be a surprise.

LOPEZ: A surprise that wasn't fulfilled. Here at the Alianza Dominicana, a community center in New York's Washington Heights, relatives seek help. The center has been going through rough times. First, the terrorist attacks of September 11 and now this plane crash.

MILAGROS BATISTA, ALIANZA DOMINICANA (through translator): Some families have been hit twice. We have families that haven't recovered after coming to be with relatives because of a loss and now they also lose their lives. So it is a tragedy that hits us very hard.

LOPEZ: Santos Rojas lost his sister Juana who arrived on Sunday but had to return to the Dominican Republic Monday because of problems with her visa. People in this community grieve by honoring their Dominican heritage but they still proudly claim the United States as their home.

SANTOS ROJAS, VICTIM'S BROTHER (through translator): I do feel fear, but I think we also, how can I say this, have to stay above the recent events because we have to move on because we're here. We have to fight for this country, America. LOPEZ (on camera): Leaders of New York's Dominican community have announced that they will be holding candlelight vigils to honor the victims of Flight 587 while they try to secure visas to reunite families separated by this tragedy.

Juan Carlos Lopez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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