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Air France crash leaves global trail of pain
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-03 11:38 The two Americans on board the plane, geologist Michael Harris and his wife Anne, had moved to Rio from Houston 10 months ago, and were on their way to Europe for work and vacation, said a spokesman for his employer, Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. Harris, who turned 60 last month, had planned to attend seminars in Barcelona, Spain, then enjoy "five days on R&R in Paris," said spokesman Chip Minty. "They were both gregarious, caring, patient, kind, fun-loving individuals," Anne Harris' sister, Mary Miley, told the Lafayette, La., newspaper The Advertiser. "My only comfort is that they died together."
Among the 61 victims from France were 10 salesmen and their spouses from a French electronics supply company, CGE Distribution, who won a company prize of a free trip to Brazil.
Salesman Stephane Artiguenave, 35, and his wife Sandrine, 34, left behind a 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son in their Bordeaux village of Saint-Martin-de-Sescas. The man's brother-in-law, Christophe Champenaud, complained that Air France officials had provided no help. "Not even to figure out how to tell the children about their parents' deaths," he said. Eleven-year-old Alexander Bjoroy was returning to his English boarding school, Clifton College in Bristol, after spending a school break with his family in Brazil. "Our deepest sympathies and condolences are with the family in Brazil at this time," said the school headmaster, John Milne. Among the 58 Brazilian victims was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a 26-year-old descendent of Brazil's last emperor, Dom Pedro II. Patricia Coakley's husband Arthur, a 61-year-old English oil-rig engineer, shouldn't have been on the ill-fated flight at all. He was supposed to have taken a weekend flight out of Rio, but was bumped because it was overbooked. She tried phoning her husband's cell phone Monday, but gave up on Tuesday. "He worked so hard for his family. That's all he wanted, to retire. It's not going to happen, is it?" she asked tearfully.
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