American Airlines Flight 587 memorial held in Queens

NEW YORK - A memorial service was held in Queens on Saturday marking the 21st anniversary of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587.

On November 12, 2001, the plane, an Airbus A300-600, crashed into Belle Harbor, on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens shortly after taking off from JFK International Airport, barely a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks. 

The crash killed all 260 people aboard the plane, along with five people on the ground, making it the second-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history behind the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 in 1979.

The families of the victims gathered at a memorial built in Rockaway Park to remember the lives that were lost that day.

Get breaking news alerts in the free FOX5NY News app!  |  Sign up for FOX 5 email newsletters

A ceremony commemorating the disaster featured a reading of the names of those who died that day, along with a moment of silence held at 9:16 a.m., the estimated time of the crash.

The plane was headed to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and nearly 05% of the passengers on the flight were reportedly of Dominican descent.