The Families Wait

Anxious families were arriving all day Thursday at the airport hotel, an eerie reminder of two years ago and the TWA flight 800 crash. The same hotel -- the same scene inside. CBS News Correspondent Harold Dow reports.

Some are feeling disbelief, some are asking the question, why me, why my father why my mother, why my sister, brother?

Swissair's actions were in stark contrast to TWA's sluggish response. Crisis teams wasted no time setting up emergency hotlines and Red Cross counseling teams.

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The families of passengers on Flight 111 were strictly guarded from the media and quickly given information on their loved ones. By early morning, the list of passengers was completed, and on it was a prominent scientist. Dr. Jonathan Mann built the UN World Health Organization's aids unit.

"He was very passionate about the whole concept of human rights particularly in the context of the disease that he was interested in --namely the HIV aids epidemic," said Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Mann was travelling with his wife, an aids researcher at Johns Hopkins. Six other members of the United Nations were aboard.

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The victims spanned the globe and the nation. Joan and Paul Hammond lived in Washington state, Tom Housman left his wife behind in New York, and a small family from Baton Rouge, Karen, Demi, and 16 month old Robert are gone.

Swissair is offering to fly relatives to the crash site in Halifax, hoping to help them accept the reality which now seems so impossible to believe.

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