Flight 587 victims interred

Families of victims of American Airlines Flight 587 say they have been invited to a New York cemetery today to visit a crypt bearing the unclaimed remains of people who died in the plane crash.

Hundreds of body parts from the Nov. 12, 2001, crash that killed 265 people were interred Saturday at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Families said they were invited by the mayor’s office of immigrant affairs to gather at the cemetery’s Woolworth Chapel. But some families don’t plan to attend, saying the city ignored their pleas for a Catholic Mass.

“I am disappointed that a Mass for the victims and their loved ones was never able to happen,” said Hector Algarroba, whose parents were killed in the crash.

“It would be disrespectful of me not to go, but I definitely don’t want to be there because it’s not being done properly.”

Representatives of the immigrant affairs and medical examiner’s offices declined to comment on the letter Friday.

The question of where to bury the remains has vexed city officials ever since Flight 587, bound for the Dominican Republic from John F. Kennedy International Airport, crashed in the Rockaways.

Many of the crash victims were Dominican.

Algarroba said the letter left little time for families to make travel arrangements. “I hope to God the family members in the Dominican Republic were notified in time,” he said.