Queens

Dominican Americans Cope With ‘Lasting Impact' of Flight 587 Crash 20 Years Later

"No matter how many anniversaries pass us by, we must never forget the magnitude of this loss," Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican American elected to Congress, said

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Cid Wilson remembers the fear and disbelief.

Twenty years ago, the nation’s second-deadliest plane crash shook a terrified nation two months after the Sept. 11 attacks. But it really hit one group particularly hard: New York City's growing Dominican American community.

On Nov. 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Queens, New York, shortly after takeoff. All 260 people aboard the flight bound for the Dominican Republic died, along with five people on the ground. About 90 percent of the passengers were of Dominican descent.

One of Wilson's good friends, Félix Sánchez, was on the plane.

"We were waiting and waiting and waiting," Wilson, 51, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, told NBC News. He said he remembers gathering at Sanchez's mother's apartment, "just praying for any possibility that maybe he missed the flight or took another flight, which was not unusual, because there were many different flights during the day."

Read the full story at NBCNews.com

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