Families Ushered Into Lounge for Bad News : At LAX, ‘Everybody Was Crying, Waiting for Word’

The last time he had been to Los Angeles International Airport, Tony Guzman recalled Sunday, he felt a twinge of regret.

It was just last Wednesday when the Norwalk man had seen his brothers, Manuel and Joe, and Joe’s teen-age son, Robert, off on a flight to Baja California for a few days of fishing in Loreto on the Gulf of California.

“I was supposed to go with them,� Tony explained, “but I couldn’t afford the trip.�

By the time Guzman returned to the airport on Sunday, the family fishing trip had turned into a tragedy.

Ushered Into Lounge

As Guzman and a friend waited among about 20 strangers at the Tom Bradley International Terminal for family and friends to arrive on Aeromexico Flight 498, they all were abruptly ushered into an upstairs lounge. Airline officials told them that the DC-9 had crashed in Cerritos and that it was believed there were no survivors.

Then it became a matter of waiting. Aeromexico representatives were awaiting the official passenger manifest from Tijuana, the plane’s last stopover. Guzman and others were left to wonder, hoping that their people had somehow missed the flight, or miraculously survived the collision with a light airplane.

“Everybody there was crying and waiting for word,’ said a Los Angeles woman, who was expecting a distant relative from Mexico.

But there were no survivors, authorities said. At least 70 people were dead--64 of whom were on Flight 498.

Armando Charles, station manager for Aeromexico at LAX, said Flight 498--which had originated in Mexico City at 7:15 a.m., with stops in Guadalajara, Loreto and Tijuana, before its scheduled 12:15 p.m. arrival here--typically carried U.S. citizens returning from vacation and Mexican nationals visiting Southern California.

Southern California Addresses

Most of the passengers had Southern California addresses, Charles said. A large number had boarded the aircraft in Loreto, and several more in Tijuana. Among the passengers were 51 adults, six children under the age of 12 and one infant.

Early on, Aeromexico officials released the names of the crew members: Pilot Arturo Valdez Prom, First Officer Hector Valencia and attendants Laura Elvia Ladero, Alma Sanchez, Rosalia Diaz and Palma Trillo Lopez. All were based in Mexico City.

But the airline would not release passengers’ names until the families were notified.

Tony Guzman was among the first to get the word.

The passenger list included 59-year-old Manuel Guzman of Hesperia and 44-year-old Joe Guzman and his son, Robert, 18, both of Norwalk. Tony Guzman collected his thoughts and then went to a phone to call other members of the family. It is a large clan: Tony has three sisters and five brothers--two now dead.

Others learned by phone. Ticket agent Alfredo Izurista answered a ring, spoke with the caller and then he checked a list.

‘You Better Come . . . ‘

“You better come to the airport, sir,� he said into the phone.

There was a pause. “I’m afraid so, yes,� Izurista finally said. “I’m sorry.�

As more relatives began to call in for information about passengers, Aeromexico set up three phone lines in the 213 area code. The numbers are: 646-0316, 646-0317 and 646-0309.

Miriam Harmeling of Northridge was among those who scrambled for information over the phone.

Her niece, Sheryl Harmeling, a San Francisco resident in her 30s, had been in Mexico with a group of scuba divers, she said. The rest of the group returned to California yesterday, she explained, “but the flight yesterday was full, so she and another member of the group were to come home today. I can’t believe she was on that flight.�

Anxiously, people trickled by the ticket counter late into the afternoon, asking whether a friend or a relative had been on the flight. Some walked away smiling. Others were ushered to the VIP lounge.

For some, there was tense confusion. Vicki Precidio, a 16-year-old from Carson, feared that her grandmother, a younger brother and a younger sister were on Flight 498. When she phoned the airline, she was told to come to the airport. When she arrived, she was told that her relatives were not on the passenger list.

Then as she headed out, relieved, an Aeromexico representative ran after Precidio and told her to go up to the lounge. The names apparently were not on the list--but the airline was still uncertain last night, Precidio said.

Inside the main lobby, a teen-age brother and sister sat in the lobby, clutching each other and sobbing. The boy held a video camera, ready to record a family reunion. The girl had a bag full of brightly wrapped gifts. As reporters and TV camera crews homed in on the pair, the boy quietly said in Spanish that he was waiting for an uncle.

Then their parents returned from the VIP lounge. “Let’s go,� their mother, Faviola Espinoza said in Spanish. Fighting back tears, Faviola Espinoza said her brother-in-law, Clemente Espinoza, an Aeromexico employee who lived in Mexico City, had been on the flight. “They told us in the waiting room there was no survivors.�

Tony Guzman lingered at the airport lobby until about 3 p.m. Then Joe Guzman’s other son and a daughter-in-law arrived at the airport. There were embraces and tears. Then, a short time later, like most of the others who had come to wait for friends and relatives, they decided to go home.

Tony Guzman said they now will wait for the bodies to be recovered and the confirmation of identities. He didn’t feel like talking anymore.

“We’re going home to wait for the official call,� he said. “That’s all.�