In what is most likely the deadliest air disaster in the Caribbean Community in living memory, authorities in Suriname recently commemorated the mid-1989 crash of a Surinamese Airways (SLM) aircraft that killed 176 of the 187 people on board.

The DC-8 from The Netherlands to the country crashed early in a jungle area near the main Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport in bad weather in the wee hours of June 7.

Investigators not only blamed dense fog and rains for the crash but also a litany of woes linked to the captain and co-pilot flying the plane when it went down. Eleven people and a dog survived the crash. Among the dead were almost every member of a football/soccer team which had been scheduled to play in a local tournament and a musical band which had usually traveled with the team.

Referring to the annual commemoration services for the disaster, outgoing President Chan Santokhi reflected on the grief and sadness that the crash had brought to the country noting that “we commemorate with deep sadness in our hearts this tragic event.  Let this day remind us of the importance of safety, responsibility and the value of life. May the souls of the deceased rest in peace. This is not only a moment of mourning, but also of reflection,” he said.

The US NTSB and other investigators who had probed the crash, had discovered to their horror that Captain Wilbert Rogers at, 60, had passed the retirement age, while First Officer Glyn Tobias is alleged to have used false identity papers to enter the cockpit. He was also underqualified. And even though Rogers had thousands of hours on the DC-8, his last recurring check was on a twin-engine piston aircraft according to published documents.

Investigators also found that there had been three previous go-around attempts to land the plane in dense fog and poor visibility. It went down on the fourth and final attempt. The probe had also found that the crew had ignored automatic warning alarms indicating that the plane was flying too low as it hit tree tops at a mere 75 feet high, killing the great majority of passengers on board.

“The commission determines that as a result of the captain’s glaring carelessness and recklessness the aircraft was flown below the published minimum altitudes during the approach and consequently collided with a tree. As underlying factor in the accident was the failure of SLM’s operational management to observe the pertinent regulations as well as the procedures prescribed in the SLM operations manual concerning qualification and certification during recruitment and employment of the crew members furnished by ACI,” the company that had furnished the crew for SLM.

And since 1989, successive governments have ensured that the population remembers the crash. A monument, complete with recovered parts of the plane, remains mounted on Jagernath Lachmonstraat (street) as a public reminder of the worst air crash in the country’s history. Local media reported this week that efforts are being made to spruce up the monument as it is showing glaring signs of wear and tear over the decades.