[ad_1]
AMSTERDAM, New York –
Mourners at the funeral of four sisters and family members killed in a limousine accident in New York were assured Saturday that their loved ones could still see their tears and feel their grief.
On a wet and chilly day, hundreds of people filled the benches of an old brick church in Amsterdam serving eight of the twenty people killed last Saturday when the limousine she had rented for the celebration of its thirtieth anniversary crashed. The stretched limousine hurtled down a hill beyond a stop sign into another car park vehicle. The 17 passengers and the driver were killed, as well as two pedestrians standing in the parking lot.
"The question that is in the hearts of so many people is: why?" Reverend O. Robert DeMartinis spoke to hundreds of people in mourning. "Why did these 20 people have to be kidnapped so quickly and so unexpectedly?"
RELATED: Remembering those who were killed in the Schoharie crash
DeMartinis spoke on an altar flanked by photos of Allison King, her sister Abigail Jackson and her husband Adam Jackson, her sister Mary Dyson and her husband Robert Dyson, her sister Amy Steenburg and her husband Axel Steenburg and his older brother, Richard Steenburg.
Urns containing their remains were placed under the pictures, each of the three married couples sharing ballot boxes. Five teddy bears sit near the urns, one for each young child who has lost a parent.
A week ago, the group – most of them in their thirties – was heading to a birthday party for Amy Steenburg in a brewery in the town of Cooperstown. DeMartinis said that he believed that Amy and her friends had been able to celebrate her 30th birthday, but in their life after death. He told people in mourning to console themselves in their eternal life.
DeMartinis married Amy and Axel Steenburg in June. He remembered them as a laughing couple who signaled to their wedding guests not to take pictures because "we suggest you live in the present moment".
He wondered why they had never picked up the panel. Now, he says, he knew.
"That 's what they ask me to ask you to do today," said DeMartinis, holding the panel in the air.
The sisters grew up in Amsterdam, a small town in upstate New York State, and many of the victims have close ties to the area. The city was sorrowful amidst a series of funerals.
At the same time, the authorities continue to investigate the causes of the accident, while prosecutors have accused the operator of the limousine company Nauman Hussain of criminal negligence homicide, claiming that he had allowed an unduly licensed driver to drive an "unusable" vehicle.
Thousands rallied for a candlelight rally along the Mohawk River Monday night, and thousands attended the Friday evening call for sisters and family members. .
"What good can come from this tragedy?" DeMartinis asked the church filled as he spread his arms. "Take a look – thousands and thousands of people."
———-
* Follow us on YouTube
* More local news
* Send us a newsletter
* Download the abc7NY app for last minute alerts
(Copyright © 2018 by The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.)
[ad_2]Source link
