Memorial service for Alex Confait who died in the Flydubai aircraft which crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don |04 June 2016

‘Farewell my son’

 “I still can’t believe my son is dead.”

A heartbroken Sheila Confait uttered these words on Thursday night as we spoke ahead of today’s memorial service in honour of her son Alex Confait who perished along with his six other crew members in the Flydubai aircraft that crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in the early hours of Saturday March 19, killing all 62 people on board. 

Today’s ceremony at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception will start at 10am and mourners are being asked not to bring flowers and not to dress in black. Father David Alcindor will preside over the ecumenical service during which family members, relatives and friends will pay their respects to the deceased.

Other memorial services have been held around the world to pray for the souls of the departed.

The plane’s 55 passengers, 44 of them Russian, ranged in age from 4 to 67; eight others were from Ukraine, two were from India and one from Uzbekistan. Its crew of seven was an ethnic mélange – two Spaniards and one person each from Cyprus, Colombia, Russia, Seychelles and Kyrgyzstan.

The Boeing 737 passenger jet operated by the Flydubai budget airline flew from Dubai to the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and crashed as it tried to land in bad weather, officials said. It was reportedly making its second attempt to land at 0050 GMT after circling for several hours.

It missed the runway and erupted in a huge fireball as it crashed, leaving debris scattered across a wide area.

“I still can’t believe my son is dead, especially at night. Sometimes I ask when he will come back. We were very close and travelled a lot together,” said Mrs Confait who was accompanied by husband Vincent Confait, a former high hurdler who also represented Seychelles at the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980.

Mr Confait said they went to Dubai three days after the accident to pick up their son’s belongings and late last month he flew to Russia along with son Marvis Confait and Alex’s friend Anissa Payet to attend the cremation ceremony.

“We received a call and were told that Alex’s body parts had been found. We were not allowed to see the body parts as they were already in a coffin. But we followed the cremation ceremony. It is tough for a parent to go through such an ordeal,” said Mr Confait.

He even told me that they have recuperated Alex’s wallet, his national identity card, his ATM cards and passport. He even showed me proof of those.

“I strongly believe that my son was not burnt in the accident. I think he was blown apart,” said Mrs Confait who added that Alex has travelled to more than 60 countries including South Sudan, Iraq and Beirut.

“He loved flying but I never thought he would die while flying,” said Mrs Confait.

The mother of four added that he would like to remember her son as “a very good organiser.”

“He was an Aries and a good leader who could inspire interest. He was also a good salesman,” said Mrs Confait who added that she needs to speak out to relieve the pressure on her.

“It is a very hard loss, he was a very positive person and is missed by everyone," said Mr Confait who added that his son loved to do track and field athletics.

“Not only was he an athlete who did the hurdles, long jump and long distance running, he was also involved in officiating. He also took part in the world airlines athletics competition and came out third in the 5km race of the under-24 year-old category in a time of 24 minutes,” said Mr Confait.

It was at around 8am on Saturday March 19 that the Flydubai's head office called the Confait family to inform them that Alex was among the fatalities of the plane crash.

Alex was to celebrate his 24th birthday 13 days later, on March 31. He had been working as a cabin crew with Flydubai since August 2014 but before joining them he worked for Emirates in Seychelles for three years.

Before the tragic accident, Alex had last visited Seychelles for a week in January.

According to reports, Alex’s last post on his Facebook page at 3.18am on Friday read: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Adieu Alex !