A large crowd gathered at the Flight 587 Memorial in Rockaway, Queens for a ceremony Saturday.
A majority of the group were loved ones of the victims who died when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed on Nov. 12, 2001.
Saturday marked the 21st anniversary of that tragic day.
“The sorrow that we still feel is there. It’s just that we have to continue to live because this is our reality,” Belkis Lora, who organized the event, said.
“I always remember the plan that we have for, you know, December too as being, you know, Christmas together and to say goodbye, not knowing that, that will be the last goodbye,” she continued.
Her brother, Jose Lora, was one of 260 people on board that plane and five on the ground who died in what is known as the second deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.
Flight 587 departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport and was headed to the Dominican Republic.
The plane crashed less than two minutes after taking off in Belle Harbor, Queens.
“I lost what I would call the love of my life. He was a wonderful person,” Media Berghout, who’s partner, Federico De La Asuncion Selles, died that day, said. “You never think it’s going to happen to you. I think it’s important for people to just take a pause, maybe say a prayer, and just remember that it was a beautiful morning. The plane took off and the next thing we knew, there were people on the ground as well as the people in the plane who didn’t survive.”
The tragic accident is also remembered for happening on the heels of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center — two months and one day later.
New Yorkers during that time were put on edge again, uncertain if it was another attack.
Investigators would determine a combination of a flaw design in the plane’s rudder and inadequate pilot training brought the plane down.
On Saturday, the names of the victims were read after a moment of silence at 9:16 a.m., the same time when the plane made an impact.
After the ceremony, loved ones placed flowers by the names inscribed on the memorial.
The place that honors those victims was designed by artist Freddy Rodriguez.
He was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and moved to New York as a teenager.
The artist passed away at 76 years old last month. The organizers of the ceremony were thinking of him as well on the anniversary.
“Thank you, Freddy, for being with us throughout these years and leaving us with this memorial where we can remember and find peace and comfort. Because time has only passed on the calendar. But not in our hearts,” Lora said during the ceremony.