BEIRUT: The cargo terminal of the Rafic Hariri Airport hosted hundreds of relatives, soldiers, government officials and journalists Sunday night, all waiting in the cold for the arrival of the 19 Lebanese victims of the Air Algerie crash. Relatives of the victims dressed in black greeted each other with kisses on the cheek and warm embraces as they patiently waited for hours to see their loved ones.
It has been five months since the fatal accident and the families have been desperately calling for the bodies to be returned.
The flight from Algeria to Burkina Faso mysteriously crashed in Mali and claimed the lives of all 116 passengers, 19 of whom were Lebanese. After months of negotiations between France, Algeria and Lebanon, the bodies were finally returned to their families.
Jihad Assadallah Dhaini’s brother Bilal, his sister-in-law Karina Bird and their three children, Malik Olivia and Rayane, all died in the crash. He and his brother both lived in West Africa, and Bilal was on his way back to Lebanon for Eid al-Fitr. He spoke to him shortly before he boarded.
“You can’t imagine how I’m feeling right now,” Dhaini, who is from south Lebanon, told The Daily Star. “This isn’t something that people are supposed to feel. This was forced upon us I wouldn’t wish this upon anybody.”
Dhaini said it was critical to know how and why the flight crashed, to prevent such incidents in the future. The investigation into what exactly happened is ongoing and the cause of the crash is still unclear.
However, Hasan Suleiman, whose cousin Mounji was on the Air Algerie flight with his wife and four children, said the investigation was pointless.
“What difference does the investigation make? The person we care about died. What is it going to bring us?” he asked.
“I feel devastated right now. We’re accepting our family as cargo and not in the arrival terminal.”
Suleiman was also irritated by the fact that the government officials in attendance, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk and Public Works and Transport Minister Ghazi Zeaiter, as well as MPs and religious figures, were all occupying seats while his cousin’s siblings were all made to stand.
The victims’ arrival was mired by a feeling of confusion.
Journalists scrambled to get quotes from the relatives and government officials, while soldiers attempted to keep everybody in order and away from government ministers. The sound of somebody weeping was never far away.
Families were growing noticeably more and more irritated by the combination of journalists hounding them and continuous delays by security forces. These feelings came to a boil when the 19 Red Cross ambulances, each carrying a coffin draped in a Lebanese flag, poured out from the plane.
The soft weeping turned into loud wailing as the families pressed against the ambulances to get a look at the coffins of the loved ones.
A military band played funeral music with the flood lights illuminating the scene reflecting off their saxophones. Soldiers present lifted their hands for a salute while the family members buried their heads in theirs in disbelief.
Moments later, the scene was disturbed by a man screaming, “We don’t want a picture! Get away from me!” at a group of photographers attempting to photograph his crying mother. His screams were slowly drowned out by several sheikhs reciting prayers as the ambulances passed by.
After all 19 ambulances had passed the gate, the religious figures formed a line with government officials and some family members behind them to pay their respects and give their respective blessings.
Facing them, behind the cameras and photographer, one man was almost hanging from an ambulance with his face pressed against the glass, staring at a coffin and weeping. As they recited their prayers, his voice rang out, “Why God, why?”
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