As America grapples with the nation’s deadliest business airline crash since 2001, after a midair collision between an American Airways jet and a U.S. Military helicopter left 67 individuals lifeless late Wednesday evening, pastors throughout the nation are actually sharing prayers and different phrases of consolation as profiles of the victims slowly emerge on-line.
Town of Wichita, Kansas — from the place American Airways Flight 5342 departed at about 6:20 p.m. with 64 individuals on board earlier than crashing midair with a Black Hawk helicopter with three troopers on board close to Reagan Nationwide Airport — hosted a prayer assembly on Thursday.
The Rev. Ben Staley, pastor of congregational care at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita, urged members of his neighborhood to “double down on caring for one another.”
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“All of us are going to know individuals who know individuals,” he mentioned in an interview with NBC Information affiliate KSHB. “So it is a good time to double down on caring for one another, upholding one another, holding palms, possibly a little bit greater than we used to. And persevering with to wish and depend upon the Lord on this time.”
Whereas investigators of the crash haven’t but disclosed the identities of the victims of the crash, U.S. Determine Skating, the nationwide governing physique for the game of determine skating, mentioned in a press release that a number of members of the determine skating neighborhood had been on the flight.
“U.S. Determine Skating can verify that a number of members of our skating neighborhood had been sadly aboard American Airways Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday night in Washington, D.C. These athletes, coaches, and members of the family had been returning house from the Nationwide Improvement Camp held together with the U.S. Determine Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” officers on the determine skating physique mentioned.
Government director and CEO of the Skating Membership of Boston, Doug Zeghibe, advised WCVB that six individuals affiliated together with his membership had been amongst 14 individuals from the U.S. Determine Skating neighborhood on the flight. He recognized skater Spencer Lane, 16, his mom, Molly; skater Jinna Han, 13, and her mom, Jin; in addition to coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
“Skating is a really shut and tight-knit neighborhood. These youngsters and their mother and father — they’re right here at our skating facility in Norwood, six, generally seven days per week. It’s a shut, tight bond, and I feel for all of us, now we have misplaced household,” Zeghibe advised the information outlet.
Previous to Wednesday’s crash, the final lethal U.S. business passenger airline crash was in February 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 crashed right into a home because it was arriving in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 individuals on board and one particular person on the bottom, CNBC reported.
Wednesday’s crash was additionally the deadliest business passenger airline crash since American Airways Flight 587, an Airbus A300 that crashed shortly after it took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport in November 2001. All 260 individuals on the flight destined for the Dominican Republic had been killed, together with 5 others on the bottom in Queens.
Listed here are 5 extra reactions from pastors and Christian leaders to the crash.
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