 Tearful Yoon Dong-yun, left, covers his face, during a news conference held at the scene of an F/A-18D crash in San Diego, Tuesday. Yoon lost four family members in the crash. / AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A Korean family's American dream has been shattered by a jet which crashed into their San Diego home, claiming four lives.
The only family member left, the husband, however, said he does not bear a grudge against the pilot and has forgiven him.
The fighter jet was heading to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar after training when it crashed into a San Diego neighborhood around noon, Monday, due to power failure. It incinerated two houses, destroyed three others and killed the four family members.
The victims were three generations of a Korean family ― 36-year-old Lee Young-mi; her 15-month-old daughter Grace, her two-month-old daughter Rachel; and her mother Kim Suk-im who was visiting them from Korea to help Lee take care of the newborn baby.
The husband, Yoon Dong-yun, 37, was spared as he was working at his coffee shop nearby.
Yoon came to the U.S. in 1989 with his sister and brother, while his parents remained in Korea. He married Lee, who was working as a nurse in San Diego, four years ago.
The tragedy took place only one month after the family moved into their new house because they needed a larger one following the birth of their second child.
Yoon told reporters Tuesday, the day after the accident, that he had left home for work around 8:30 a.m. Monday and that was the last time he saw his family. ``My friend called me and said that a plane had crashed on my house. I hurried home and saw the house in flames, but no one was coming out of it,'' he said.
He said he thanked everyone who helped find the bodies of his beloved.
``Please pray that the pilot will not anguish over the accident. I don't blame him for it. He is the one who did his best in order to prevent the crash,'' Yoon said. The pilot ejected right before the crash and was taken to hospital.
The faithful Christian said, ``I believe God has taken them. I'll live my life according to what my wife would do if she were alive.''
Yoon said that nothing is left to remember the family because his house was burnt out, except a few photos recorded on his camera.
His church, the Korean United Methodist Church in San Diego, is preparing the funeral on behalf of Yoon and collecting donations.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
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