SouthShoreNow.ca

Still offering support to families

Lisa Brown
Lighthouse staff

 WHALESBACK - For many of the Nova Scotians gathered on the rocks at Whalesback, it was an opportunity to again show support and a chance to find peace within themselves.

 They came to be near the families of those who died in the terrible tragedy off the coast on September 2, 1998. They wanted the victims' families to know they cared. They wanted to end a chapter in their lives that will never be forgotten.

 As a member of the Black Point and District fire department, Scott Manuel responded to the call for help on that stormy night. Within days, when there were no survivors, he turned his efforts to aiding those he could.

 On that weekend that is ingrained in the minds of so many people of the province, Mr. Manuel was one of the volunteers on the rocks at Peggy's Cove placing flowers in the water for victims' families.

 He did it, he said Wednesday, simply because it was too dangerous for them to do it themselves. But in the process, he was deeply touched by the tragedy.

 "It really puts a personal side on a crash like this," he said. "I think that was the big thing. It does make it a little emotionally harder, but it really puts it in perspective that each one of these people was a person, not just a name."

 Having come in contact, however briefly, with so many families a year ago, he needed to be at the Whalesback dedication.

 "I just wanted an opportunity to pay my respects. I'd like to say to the families that I'm still thinking about them, I still feel the pain," Mr. Manuel said.

 As he did so many times in the days following the crash, he placed a rose during the service. This time, he represented the community volunteers as he laid the flower at the foot of the memorial.

 "This is a very important moment to me - to have an opportunity to pay my respects one more time to the families and to all the people that were lost on Swissair," he said before the dedication. "I feel like I still need something and I'm hoping that this is it."

 John Byrne, the regional director of the Canadian Red Cross, also laid a rose. He can't believe a year has passed since that tragic night.

 "Talking about it, it seems like yesterday," he said.

 He recalls being with a group of about 300 rescuers, firefighters and Red Cross workers shortly after midnight that fateful night when word came to Peggy's Cove that there would be no survivors.

 "Just a dead silence came over the whole place. All you could see was red lights flashing, and there was not a sound. Every time I drive by here, that's the feeling I get," Mr. Byrne said.

 He's tremendously proud of the way people, authorities and organizations came together in the aftermath of the event.

 "I think as you drive through any of these local communities today you'll see the same sort of outpouring of compassion and concern as was expressed a year ago. It's here again today," the director added.

 "I think it's going to be very important to most people to sort of bring closure. Today is a time to put what rightly belongs here, some sort of a reminder of the marvellous work that went on to try to assist people. It will be here for many, many, many years to come."