The bodies of the five Argentinian friends killed in last week’s ISIS-inspired terror attack in New York City arrived at a Buenos Aires airport Monday — as the president of the South American country met with Mayor de Blasio at the site of the carnage.
A massive police escort of several dozen officers accompanied the bodies of Hernán Ferruchi, 48, Alejandro Damián Pagnucco, 49, Diego Enrique Angelini, 48, Hernán Diego Mendoza, 48 and Ariel Erlij, 48, to the men’s hometown of Rosario.
Meanwhile, De Blasio and Argentine President Mauricio Macri visited the bike path along the West Side Highway to pay tribute to the eight victims of last Tuesday’s horrific attack.
The mayor, standing alongside Macri on the path at West Street and Vestry Street, told reporters: “We live 5,000 miles apart, but we feel a tremendous sense of unity, a deep connection right now and we share the same heartache, we share the same grief, because this is a loss we have in common.”
Eight people, including the five Argentinians, were killed and nearly a dozen injured when Uzbekistan native Sayfullo Saipov, 29, plowed a rented pickup truck down the crowded path in lower Manhattan.
“This was not just an attack on eight individuals,” de Blasio said. “It was not just an attack on New York City. It was not just an attack on the United States of America. It was an attack on all of humanity.”
He added, “Eight innocent lives were cruelly taken right along this pathway. Our prayers are with the victims and with their families.
The mayor addressed Macri directly, saying, “Mr. President, on Tuesday we all felt a sense of shock and you see this setting. This peaceful tranquil setting where good innocent people were enjoying the beauty of this city and that’s what we understood about the horror of terrorism – it’s aimed at the innocent, it’s aimed at the unassuming, and it’s meant to change us and undermine us, to make us doubt ourselves and our values.”
De Blasio noted how the five slain Argentinians were friends who were in town celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation.
“Mr. President,” de Blasio said in addressing Macri, “we will forever remember them as New Yorkers and feel they are a part of us.”
Macri thanked de Blasio before he and his wife, First Lady Juliana Awada, laid a bouquet of white hydrangeas and roses along the pathway.
De Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, laid an identical bouquet of flowers on the path.
A Belgian mother and two Americans from New York and New Jersey were among the slain victims of the rampage.
With Post Wires