Relatives Gather to Pray, Mourn at Islamic Center
Wails for the dead filled a Muslim gathering place Sunday evening as relatives of those killed in the crash of an EgyptAir plane shared their grief.
“It’s so tragic that we cannot express the sorrow,” said Hisham Elzanaty of Searingtown, whose parents, Abdu and Fawqia Elzanaty, were on Flight 990.
“Life will never be the same without my parents,” Elzanaty said. “We spent last night together until 1 in the morning. They prayed for us and we wished them a safe flight.”
Elzanaty was joined by his brother, Tarec, at the prayer service at the Islamic Center of Long Island. They said their parents, a contractor and a housewife from Cairo, had been visiting them for two months.
The imam of the modern, green-domed mosque, Sheik Ahmed Deweidar, read from the Koran and recited a prayer for the dead.
Wadida Farid, the sister of Flight 990 pilot Ahmed el-Habashy, sat draped in black, holding a box of tissues.
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