A bell chimes, marking 18 years since American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, just three minutes after it took off from Kennedy Airport.

"We feel like this was yesterday,” says Belkis Lora. “We don't feel like it’s been 18 years."

Belkis Lora's brother Jose was on Flight 587 that day. All 260 passengers and crew, plus five people on the ground in Belle Harbor on the Rockaway Peninsula, were killed.

The flight was bound for Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Most of those on board were Dominican, a painful blow for the Dominican community here in New York and back on the island.

"Tears unite us. Tears are a common language between all people. The language of grief, the language of love, never extinguished," said Father Eric Cruz, of St. John Chrysostom Catholic Parish, at the memorial for the victims.

The crash was later blamed on a broken rudder caused by stress as the co-pilot tried to steady the plane in another jet's turbulent wake. Because the plane crash took place just two months after September 11th, many were initially concerned it was an act of terror.

"Neighbors in Belle Harbor rushed to help. The FDNY, the NYPD, their heroism and the strength of our Dominican community, this city came forward immediately to support the families," Mayor de Blasio said.

Mayor de Blasio joined relatives for the reading of victim's names and to lay flowers at the Flight 587 Memorial in Rockaway Park, a memorial that has become a place for Belkis Lora to reflect.

"It's good to come over here and to bring all of those beautiful memories that he has left in my mind," said Lora.

Memories that remain so powerful now 18 years after the crash.