Martinique Mourns Crash Victims

Wails of grief echoed through the airport on this French Caribbean island Wednesday at a memorial service for the 160 victims of a charter jet crash in Venezuela.

The disaster rippled throughout the island of about 430,000 people, where a few small towns lost dozens of residents.

“We feel like we’re in the middle of a nightmare,” said George Venkapaten, a Martinique farmer whose 48-year-old brother was killed with his wife and 6-year-old son.

French Minister of Overseas Departments Francois Baroin walked through the crowd at the airport and tried to console family members. He embraced a crying girl who had lost her parents.

“I came to express an immense national solidarity,” said Baroin, who was dispatched to the island hours after Tuesday’s crash.

The West Caribbean Airways flight went down after its pilot reported engine trouble en route from Panama to Martinique, which was home to all of the 152 passengers. The eight crew members were from Colombia.

Many of those on board the charter were civil servants on vacation. Some were town council members. The group also included descendants of workers who helped build the Panama Canal. They were making a historical pilgrimage to the Central American country.

Also on board were Paul Berisson, 79, and his wife, George, 70, who were celebrating 50 years of marriage and traveling with nearly three dozen friends.

The elderly couple set off amid a flurry of goodbyes from children and grandchildren, who returned to the airport to greet them on their return and heard terrible news instead.

Their daughter Giselle Berisson said, “What consoles us is that they were together to the end.”

Gertrude Romain, who was supposed to board the plane in Panama but was diverted by a family emergency, struggled for words as she tried to express her sorrow. “My God, our friends, our friends,” she said in an interview with RFO Martinique, her voice trailing off. “It’s hard, hard, hard.”