TWA Flight 800 Memorial Planned For Smith Point County Park

SHIRLEY, NY — The 230 people aboard TWA Flight 800 who perished in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island will be remembered in a beachside ceremony at Smith Point County Park in Shirley on Saturday during a memorial service marking the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe.

The ceremony, which will be attended by family members of those who died, will be held at the Flight 800 International Memorial, which features the flags of every country that lost a citizen.

The ill-fated plane took off from John F. Kennedy Airport on July 17, 1996, and crashed about 1o minutes later at about 8:30 p.m., into the Atlantic Ocean near Moriches Inlet. All onlookers from the shore could see was a sea of fire as first responders raced to the scene in a massive rescue effort. Their efforts later became a recovery mission that involved federal, state, and Suffolk County agencies, including the United States Coast Guard and many local fire departments in the surrounding area.

The National Transportation Safety Board later deemed the cause of the crash to be a fuel tank explosion. The TWA Flight 800 International Memorial was commissioned at Smith Point as a place for the crash victims’ families to visit to remember their loved ones, and a yearly memorial service is held there on the crash anniversary.

The memorial draws visitors from all over who can often be seen leaving mementos like flowers, or candle displays, as well as releasing balloons and lanterns into the air.