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American Morning
Friend of Flight 587 Casualty Interviewed
Aired November 14, 2001 - 09:38 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a tragically ironic story here. One of the people killed on Flight 587 escaped death at the World Trade Center. Felix Sanchez left his job at the Twin Towers on September 10, the day before the disaster. Monday, he was on his way to the Dominican Republic, as part of his new job providing financial advice to baseball players.
Oscar Herasme was his friend. He joins us now.
We're so sorry to hear this news.
When did you know Felix was on the flight?
OSCAR HERASME, FRIEND OF FLIGHT 587 VICTIM: About two or three hours after the crash. I would say maybe around noon or 1:00 p.m., when a fellow colleague of ours called me to let me know that he was on that flight. As it turns out, Felix was part of an organization we all belong to, called the Dominican-American Professional Alliance, which is about 320 or so young men and women, primarily Dominican, who are professionals from all fields, including attorneys, like myself, teachers, actors, writers, and people on Wall Street; Felix was one of those people. He certainly fit the mold of a young person who was up and coming. This is just heartbreaking.
ZAHN: I guess what has to make it especially traumatic for you and his family is the fact that he cheated death the first time. Was that something he talked about, about the stars having been lined in the right way or God having been with him, to allow him to quit his job on September 10.
HERASME: It's certainly something that he thought about. He spoke about it. There were many other people from the neighborhood who were at the World Trade Center that day and got out, but he certainly thought that he got a new lease on life. He also spoke about two people he lost at the World Trade Center, from Merrill Lynch. So it was tough on him and family.
ZAHN: How did the tragedy effect his planning for the future?
HERASME: I think that he had always wanted to do something within his community, something where he can could give back to his community as a professional. He was a financial adviser. A very exciting area, and profitable area, was to give financial advice to so many Dominican and Latin American baseball players. And he was on this flight specifically to go down there and start a new venture in that area.
ZAHN: How is his family holding up?
HERASME: Not very well. I don't think any of the families on that flight or people in Rockaways are handling this very well. As a city, we're devastated because of what happened two months ago, and a lot is being made of the tragedy going through the Rockaways and how they lost so many people at the World Trade Center; the Dominican Community in New York, on a conservative estimate, lost about 45 people, whether they be Dominican nationals or Dominican-Americans or related to families there.
And the bulk of the people on this flight came from the neighborhood of Washington Heights, in upper Manhattan, a predominantly Dominican neighborhood. And we've been in mourning with the city since the 11th; now we continue to be in morning with the loss of so many brothers and sisters on that flight.
ZAHN: I know you feel very strongly that there are people out there who might not be getting the kind of support they need. You have a phone number that you wanted to get out this morning.
HERASME: That's true. There is community-based organization which is organizing the efforts, and it's Allianca Dominicana. Anyone who can help or provide assistance, I ask them to call 212-740-1960.
ZAHN: We hope that helps.
Oscar, take care. Thank you very much for coming in at such a difficult time.
HERASME: Thank you for having me, Paula.
ZAHN: Take care.
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