Tragedy of Flight 587

On November 12, 2001, the city, the country, the world was still reeling from the act of terrorism that brought down the Twin Towers.
But it was on that day that the residents of Belle Harbor - including Thomas Lynch - witnessed the second-deadliest aviation disaster in United States history, the crash of Dominican Republic-bound Flight 587.
The plane’s 260 passengers and five people on the ground were killed at precisely 9:16 a.m. when the plane went down at Beach 131st Street and Newport Avenue.
“I saw the scene,” said Lynch, a retired firefighter. “The plane was flying vertically with flames coming out of it. I saw what I thought was an explosion and fire.
“I went to the scene and did what I could do,” he continued, explaining that his son was friends with a young boy that died on the ground.
Seven years later, Lynch said, he still remembers, but that he tries to forget.
“You have to put these things to bed,” he told The Courier. “You can’t carry them with you.”
In 2006, a $9.2 million memorial was dedicated at the corner of Beach 116th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard, blocks from the crash site.
The memorial is a circular granite structure, designed by Dominican-born sculptor Freddy Rodriguez, and inscribed with a line of poetry by Dominican national poet Pedro Mir, “Despues no quiero mas que paz,” or, “Afterwards I want only peace.”