MIAMI SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - A monument honoring more than 100 people who lost their lives when an Eastern Airlines plane went down in the Florida Everglades was unveiled in Miami Springs on the 50th anniversary of the crash.
7News cameras on Thursday captured the moment that a plaque with the names of the 101 people killed in the Dec. 29, 1972 crash was unveiled near the Miami Springs Golf & Country Club.
“They’ll never be forgotten,” said a speaker at the unveiling.
The memorial sits half a mile from the runway where the flight was supposed to land.
“We hope that everyone, myself included, will find peace,” said survivor Beverly Raposa as she addressed attendees.
Survivors and family members of the victims said they’re grateful to finally see this day.
“This day to me is so very special, because I’ve kept all of them in my hearts,” said Raposa, “and I made a promise 15 years ago, when we first started trying to do something, that I would never give up until our passengers and fellow crew members that perished were remembered, OK? And today, that promise is kept.”
“It means everything. It’s like a resting place, so to speak, you know?” said an attendee. “And to memorialize all the people here that lost their loved ones as well.”
Some survivors said memories of the crash still replay in their minds.
“Each time there is a crash anywhere in the world, it comes to my mind. Every 29th of December, it’s there,” said survivor Mercy Ruiz, “so it’s the type of experience that you never – there’s no way you can forget it, no way, but you deal with it, and you live with it, and I thank God every day for my life, because it was like a miracle.”
Eastern Airlines flight 401 was heading from New York to Miami when it plunged into the Everglades.
Of the 176 people on board, 101 died and 75 survived.
Now, 50 years later and after years of working to raise the funds, a monument has finally been raised to honor the victims.
“It has not been easy, I can tell you, but we did it. We did it!” said Raposa.
At the time, the plane crash was considered one of the deadliest in U.S. history.
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