World

Families Head To Nova Scotia

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 4, 1998 / 9:38 AM EDT / CBS

Families of victims of the Swissair Flight 111 crash will depart their hotel at JFK airport in New York Friday and travel together to Halifax, Nova Scotia. They will be joining families from Switzerland who are already on their way, reports CBS News Correspondent Jacqueline Adams.

The Switzerland flight departed Geneva at about 6:40 a.m. EDT. Between 80 and 90 bereaved family members who lost relatives on the doomed Swissair plane were on the flight. They're expected to arrive in Nova Scotia at 1 p.m. EDT.

Click here for the names of the crash victims.

The Airbus 310 took off an hour late from Geneva's Cointrin airport. It had earlier collected relatives at Zurich's Kloten airport.

Many of the grieving family members were dressed in black. The rest of the 127 people on board were Swissair assistance staff and technical experts.

Delta/Swissair Information Hotline for friends and family: 1-800-801-0088.

Once family members arrive, their chore will be a grim one, helping to identify remains of loved ones and taking those remains home. Swissair announced Friday that it would provide $20,000 in compensation per passenger victim to help family members meet immediate expenses.

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At the United Nations, flags were lowered to half-staff to honor the eight diplomats and scientists who died. For them, the Swissair flight was a familiar one, frequently used to shuttle U.N. workers between its offices in Geneva and New York.

These U.N. employees include people who worked for the welfare of children, the care of refugees, a cure for AIDS, and the protection of the world's intellectual property.

The victims came from around the country and the world. There were 132 Americans on boardfive less than was originally thought.

A small family from Baton Rouge, La., was lost: Karen and Denis Maillet, and their 14-month-old son. They were excited about going home to visit her parents, who had never seen the child. They were looking very much forward to bringing the boy home to visit his grandparents in France.

CBS News Animation: Timeline of SR111

Equally shaken was a Swiss tennis player. He decided to skip Swissair Flight 111 and stay in New York after losing his match at the U.S. Open.

At this point, 60 bodies have been identified. Depending on the weather, more will probably be found throughout the day Friday.