Grief Counselor Spared Death

The lone passenger who got off EgyptAir Flight 990 when it landed in New York is a grief counselor who works for a company that helps airlines notify family members of air crash victims.

Ed McLaughlin, who works for the Family Enterprise Institute, boarded the plane in Los Angeles, where he had been conducting a seminar for EgyptAir. Just hours after getting off the plane early Sunday in New York, where he lives, he began counseling some of the grieving families.

McLaughlin even participated in a news conference, describing his work to reporters. He didn't mentioned that he'd been on the doomed plane, which plummeted into the sea near Nantucket Island while en route to Cairo from New York.

"We work with EgyptAir to try to help the families with the notification process," he said. "At the moment we're struggling to get everything together."

Robert Boyle, executive director of the Port Authority, which manages the airport, confirmed that McLaughlin was on the plane and was workingfor EgyptAir.

"We think he's the only person who got off," Boyle said.


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