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The Swissair crash has faded to a distant memory for all but Nova Scotians and the families who lost loved ones, said Mark Fetherolf, whose daughter died on the ill-fated flight.

?This is the only place in the world where anybody really cares about what happened to Swissair Flight 111,? Fetherolf said yesterday, smiling sadly.

?In the United States, it hasn?t been in the news, it hasn?t been in the press. It?s not an item of interest.?

Fetherolf?s daughter, Tara, was 16 and on her way to a private school in Geneva when the MD-11 crashed into the waters off Peggy?s Cove 41/2 years ago, killing all 229 people aboard.

Yesterday, Fetherolf and other relatives who lost loved ones in the crash said they?re confident the Transportation Safety Board left no stone unturned in finding out the cause of the crash, and in making recommendations to improve airline safety.

But Fetherolf said he?s worried regulatory agencies in the U.S. won?t force airlines to comply, because the costs involved will be too high.

?We?re very interested in responsibility, in seeing there be some accountability for actions that led up to the crash.?

Like Fetherolf, Lyn Romano, who founded the International Aviation Safety Association after her husband Ray died, plans to continue lobbying for greater air safety.

?I have a lot of work to do,? Romano said.

Fetherolf and Romano were among a handful of family members who came to Halifax yesterday for the release of the long-anticipated report. The Transportation Safety Board held family briefings in New York and Geneva, as well.

Margie Topf of Boston, who lost her sister, Nancy Topf-Gibson, said the report will mark the end of the issue for her family.

?There?s as much closure as you can get when you have this hole in your heart,? said Topf, who wears a heart-shaped necklace made of Peggy?s Cove granite to remind her of her sister. ?We need to move on as a family.?

Ian Shaw, who moved from Geneva to open a restaurant in Peggy?s Cove after losing his daughter. Stephanie, left the briefing nearly in tears.

?It is not a loss. It?s an amputation of a section of our heart and of our soul,? Shaw told reporters, his voice breaking.

rboomer@hfxnews.ca