Families of U.S. spy plane's crew hold their breath

Josephine Mercado, of Corona, California, holds a photo of son Ramon, who is among the U.S. Navy crew grounded in China

Yellow ribbons adorn trees at home base

WHIDBEY ISLAND, Washington (CNN) -- With 24 crew members from a U.S. Navy spy plane detained in China, family and friends tied yellow ribbons around trees across the crew's home base in Whidbey Island, Washington, to symbolize their hopes.

"It's always hard waiting on something like this," Michael Cecka, whose son David is a Navy electronics technician from the plane crew, said on Tuesday. "It's not something you can prepare for that well."

VIDEO CNN's Denise Dillon gets reaction from relatives of the crew of the U.S. plane that is in China Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    IN-DEPTH U.S.-China Collision: A diplomatic solution  • About freighter returning EP-3  • Look: Inside the EP-3  • Facts about the EP-3  • Map: Locating the incident  • Big picture: High stakes  • Classroom discussion guide  • Historical US-China timeline  • Whidbey arrival images  • Crew speaks out  • Crew's return images

The EP-3 Aries II made an emergency landing on Hainan Island, off China's south coast, on Sunday -- Saturday night in the Pacific Northwest -- after a collision with a Chinese fighter plane shadowing it over the South China Sea.

The Navy's four-engine propeller plane is part of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron I, based at the Navy installation near Seattle. The aircraft is packed with highly sensitive electronic surveillance equipment.

The squadron departed Washington on March 2 for what was to have been a three-month rotation in the western Pacific, Navy spokeswoman Kim Martin said.

All but two of the plane's seven officers and 17 enlisted crew were Navy personnel, with an Air Force airman and a Marine sergeant on board as well. Fourteen of the crew's families live on base, Martin said.

The Navy has assigned someone to assist each family and is providing them with regular updates, Martin said.

Representatives from at least 10 of the families attended briefings Monday, while others waited across the country for news of their relatives.

"I felt numbness and I couldn't sleep. I was sort of shocked. I didn't expect that would happen to my son," said Josephine Mercado, mother of Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class Ramon Mercado, at her Corona, California, home.

A woman adorns a tree with a yellow ribbon at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington

Darlene Edmunds, whose ex-husband Joe Edmunds is a Navy code- breaking specialist, said she thinks Chinese officials will release the crew only after they get some information about the plane and its mission.

"Since they have access to the plane, that will tip them off on a lot of things," Edmunds said.

In Billings, Montana, Joe Hanser, father of Navy cryptologist Jason Hanser, told CNN he did not want to comment on the situation "due to the sensitive nature of where they're at." But he added, "My family's just saying a lot of prayers for him and the other crewmen."

Christina Mellos said she was "out of her mind" as she waited for news of her nephew Nicholas Mellos, a senior chief petty officer from Ypsilanti, Michigan.

"We're waiting to hear more, just like everybody else. What else can you say?" she told The Associated Press.

U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday demanded China release the crew in a "prompt and safe" manner, but U.S. officials were able to speak with the members until Tuesday.

Cecka, father of the electronics technician who was aboard the plane, said he viewed the situation's political dimensions strictly "as an observer."

"It's not my place to second-guess anything of that sort. We just want to talk with him and we want to get him home," he said.

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Naval Air Station Whidbey Island

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