Massdam cruisers on plane that went down

[tiffany]

Does anyone have any news about the plane that went down in Yulan Mexico with most American tourists. They had gotten off the Massdam in Cozumel and were going to see the ruins.

Has anyone heard anything from the cruise line?

From info on the Cruise Critic board it seems they were actually returning from Chichen Itza, were a group of Washington Husky fans on a cruise that would have ended with them all going to the Husky's game in Florida that would have been this weekend. What an incredibly sad week. Take care.

Here's the article:

"MERIDA, Mexico (AP) - A plane carrying 16 American tourists and three crew members on a visit to Mayan ruins crashed in Yucatan state on Wednesday. All aboard died.

Fernando Vargas, director general of Aero Ferinco, said that the passengers had gotten off of the cruise ship Massdam (sic) at the Caribbean islnd of Cozumel and were flying to visit the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.

A U.S. State Department official, speaking on condition he not be otherwise identified, said all 16 of the tourists were U.S. citizens, most from the Pacific Northwest.

Vargas said the twin-engine LET 410 with 16 passengers, a Mexican guide and two pilots crashed shortly about (sic) 5 p.m. near the village of Tinum shortly after taking off from Chichen Itza on a return trip to Cozumel."

The crew and passengers are devastated and are trying to cope with the situation together with the horrible tragedy in New York.

[Helen]

I'm curious. Was this flight a HAL-sponsored shore excursion or one the passengers arranged privately?

Have no idea - from what I gathered it was a HAL excursion, but I could be wrong.

A shudder went down my back when I read this news report. In November of 2000 I and a friend made that SAME excursion trip to Chichen Itza ... and on that same airline and aircraft. It was a small Russian-built aircraft and it seemed to be rather rickety. My companion was praying all the way there and back, and I remember being rather upset at some of HARD maneuvers. It was NOT a comfortable flight, and the pilots didn't seem to care that they were really banging us around. There were almost NO safty equipment onboard, and what emergency directions could be found were printed in Russian -- which I read, but which no one else did.

My prayers are with the families of those who died.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Gregory S. Neal
www.revneal.org