Dominicans grieve for crash victims

By John Zarrella
CNN

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CNN) -- At a time when Dominicans are usually celebrating, the flag at the Dominican Republic's presidential palace is at half-mast.

Many Dominicans who earn their living in New York begin flying home in November so they can spend more than a month preparing for Christmas with their families.

More than half of the people on American Airlines flight 587, which crashed Monday morning in New York, were Dominican citizens.

The Dominican government already is moving to set up temporary morgues here, and a team has been assembled to handle the task of bringing the bodies home to be buried.

Grieving relatives continued arriving at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, where they met with grief counselors behind a hastily hung blue tarp.

Among the relatives was Robustiano Rayes, who first heard first about the crash on television.

"By the news, and my daughter called me and told me that the plane my son was on had crashed," he said.

Emotions here run from sadness to anxiety to relief.

Milagros Cabrejo would have been on that flight, but came home a day early.

"The same flight I came on yesterday had a problem in New York," he said. "Oh, my goodness. An accident."

The September 11 attacks, and now Monday's crash, have left many Dominican travelers both nervous and anxious. But for many Dominicans with family both on the island and in the United States, flying is their only option.