Anxious Relatives Frustrated at Lack of Crash Information

At John Wayne Airport--the ultimate destination of the Northwest airliner that crashed Sunday in Detroit, apparently killing the 153 aboard--all that appeared on the flight announcement screen was a terse message:

“Cancelled Flight. See Agent.”

As relatives began to file in well before Flight 255’s scheduled 10:30 p.m. arrival, Northwest employees immediately escorted them to an Orange County Sheriff’s security office at the airport.

In a short statement at 10 p.m., the airline said that “less than 10” people had reservations from Detroit to John Wayne Airport, although no passenger list was released. Most of the passengers were booked to get off the plane at its earlier stop in Phoenix.

By late evening, a small group of five people had gathered. Most had already heard about the tragedy and were looking for information, hoping that their friend or relative was not aboard.

One Newport Beach resident, who would not identify himself, briefly emerged from the security office, obviously distraught.

“I wasn’t 100% sure, but I think my brother is on that flight, because he was scheduled to come home from Detroit today,” he said.

He had heard about the crash on the radio but could not find out from Northwest officials whether his brother was a passenger, he said.

Rebecca Wilder of San Clemente, who came seeking news of her husband, William, also was frustrated by the lack of information.

She said her husband, William Wilder, who was visiting his ailing mother in Michigan, talked to her Saturday night and told her he was going to Detroit, and his last words were: “I’ll see you tomorrow (Sunday) night in Orange County.”

She was not sure he was on that particular flight. “All they tell me,” she said, “is they don’t know any details. So here I am sitting and worrying.”

She talked to several Northwest officials, was referred her to others, who referred her back again. She said she still had no answers.

In the airport terminal, a young man wearing shorts and a football jersey pounded a wall with his fist as tears flowed from his eyes.

‘Won’t Tell Me Anything’

“My sister is on that plane,” he said. “They won’t tell me anything.”

Jim Fitzgerald, Northwest’s district sales manager for Southern California, said the airline officials had notified relatives of those passengers they could confirm were on the plane.

Orange County-bound passengers scheduled to board the flight in Phoenix were put on another airline’s plane and were expected to arrive later in the evening, he said.

The Northwest ticket counter, left unattended after word of the crash came, was the site of Fitzgerald’s press conference. That section of the small airport terminal was jammed with a crowd of reporters, photographers and curious onlookers.

Fitzgerald said that relatives seeking information about passengers “should call other relatives.” He said the airline by then had contacted relatives of every passenger believed to have been on the flight.

Five clergymen were summoned by the airline to console relatives, officials said.

Msgr. William Ralph Harvey of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Newport Beach emerged from the security room after talking with family members.

“I’m doing the best I can,” he said. “I did talk to them, but all I can give them is consoling expressions and just try to comfort them.”

He said he spoke to three members of one family and four members of another and that some still held out hope that their relatives may have survived.

Crash story in Part I, Page 1.