On Monday night, neighbors gathered at a candlelight vigil to grieve the loss of a West Hartford family killed in a horrific plane crash in Nigeria over the weekend.
Maimuna Anyene, her four children, husband and mother were on their way to a wedding in Nigeria when they lost their lives. All 153 people aboard the flight were killed in the crash in Lagos, Nigeria.
Dozens from the Park Place Road neighborhood in West Hartford, where the family resided, gathered to remember them..
“You come together and do things like this and that's what heals,” one woman said.
Others talked about the trouble they were having coming to terms with the shocking loss.
“Since I heard it this morning, we've been in a state of shock. Absolutely shocking,” said Jack Ohayan. “What a beautiful family. We see them every day and all of the sudden they're gone."
Neighbors remembered seeing the children playing outside and spoke about how to break the news to their own children, who often played with the Anyene youngsters.
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“My daughter, when she wakes up tomorrow and asks for the kids ... I don’t know what to tell them,” said Eduardo Gonzalez.
Neighbors said the family was about to start a new chapter in their lives.
Maimuna Anyene just accepted a job in Rhode Island and they planned to move when they got back from their trip.
“Actually we got very upset because before she left she was telling us she got an offer from a company in Rhode Island,” Ohayan said.
Their future was taken away in a matter of minutes and their friends couldn’t understand how something like this could happen.
“She was just a beautiful woman and so nice and so polite, and so gracious,” Ohayan said.
Neighbors found strength in one another to help them get past this tragedy.
"We just ask that everyone pay their respects and hope they're in a better place,” said Tegan Gonzalez.
On Monday there was no word on how many could have been killed on the ground. Investigators said the pilot reported both engines had failed.
