Disaster struck the city again when American Airlines Flight 587 to the Dominican
Republic crashed Nov. 12 in Belle Harbor, Queens.
District Council 37’s
members, many of whom continue to work on the frontlines at Ground Zero and in
city hospitals, were still grieving after the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack
when word of the new tragedy hit.
The Nov. 12 crash killed 265 people.
As PEP went to press, with information still coming in, DC 37 had learned that
the victims included three members of Local 420 who were on the flight, and the
families of two Emergency Medical Technicians in Local 2507 and a Metropolitan
Museum Guard who is a member of Local 1503.
District Council 37 and
its union family of 125,000 members and 40,000 retirees extend their deepest condolences
to the families and co-workers of those lost on Flight 587 and to the members
who lost loved ones in the crash. They include:
- Hospital Employees Local 420 member Magnolia Nadir Pena, a Certified
Nurse’s Aide at Gouverneur Hospital who died on Flight 587.
- Local
420 members Norberto Rivera and Victor Ramirez, both Housekeepers at Lincoln Hospital
in the Bronx, who were also on the plane.
- Richard Solis of Local
1503, who works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, lost his mother, sister, brother-in-law
and a niece who were passengers on Flight 587.
- EMT Edward Medina,
a member of Local 2507 who cared for wounded rescue workers after the Sept. 11
disaster, lost his father, stepmother, grandfather and younger brother and sister,
who were traveling to the Dominican Republic from Providence, R.I.
- EMT
Willie Costa, also of Local 2507, lost his stepmother, who was on American Airlines
Flight 587.