"I came to express an immense national solidarity," said Baroin, who was dispatched to the island hours after Tuesday’s (16 Aug 2005) crash.

The West Caribbean Airways flight crashed after its pilot reported engine trouble en route from Panama to Martinique, which was home to all of the 152 passengers. The eight crew members, who were also killed, were from Colombia.

The pain of the disaster rippled throughout the island of 432,000 people, where a few small towns lost dozens of people.

"We feel like we’re in the middle of a nightmare," George Venkapaten, a Martinique farmer whose 48-year-old brother was killed with his wife and six-year-old son.

Many of those on board the charter were civil servants on holiday. Some were town council members, prominent in their communities. The group also included descendants of island workers who helped build the Panama Canal making a historical pilgrimage to the Central American country.

Also on board were Paul Berisson, 79, and his wife, Georgia, 70, a couple celebrating 50 years of marriage and travelling with nearly three dozen friends.

Gertrude Romain, who was supposed to get on the plane in Panama but couldn’t because of a family emergency that forced her to travel elsewhere, struggled for words as she tried to express her sorrow. "My God, our friends, our friends," she said in an interview with RFO-Martinique, her voice trailing off. "It’s hard, hard, hard."

Baroin travelled around the island under heavy rain to visit the hardest hit towns. He also said that authorities would appoint two investigative judges to determine if anyone bears legal blame for the crash.