Updated 3 hours ago
NBC Universal, Inc.
A memorial was held Tuesday to honor the lives lost 25 years ago when ValuJet Flight 592 went down in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 people on board.
Retired police divers and firefighters gathered with other first responders to remember the victims and shed tears over what they witnessed that day.
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Joyce Simonton was one of the passengers. Her granddaughter, Kristen Grissom, was at her Georgia home when her father delivered the devastating news. She was seven years old.
“Him (father) sitting me down in her front yard on her steps, and him explaining to me that my grandmother…had been on this flight, and explaining to me that ‘granny’ wasn’t coming back,” Grissom told NBC 6 during a Zoom interview.
Alvarez vividly remembers the moment first responders halted their work.
“…They were standing at attention as the families drove by paying their respects,” Alvarez said while fighting back tears. “What I hope to do on this May 11, on the 25th anniversary, was once again have our people come out here and pay our respects for the families.”
Michael Gast and Danny Llano were divers for the Miami-Dade Police Department at the time.
“It’s depressing. It’s depressing when you realize 110 people were on that airplane and their lives just ended,” Gast told NBC 6.
Photos provided by Miami-Dade Police show the search to find anything that could be given to the families.