Florian Vijent

Florian Vijent
Personal information
Full nameFlorian Vijent
Date of birth28 November 1961
Date of death7 June 1989 (aged 27)
Place of deathZanderij Airport, Paramaribo, Suriname
Playing positionGoalkeeper
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
????-1989Telstar?(?)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Florian Vijent (28 November 1961 – 7 June 1989), was a Dutch-Surinamese football goalkeeper. During his career he played for Telstar. He died at the age of 27, when on 7 June 1989, he was killed in the Surinam Airways Flight PY764 air crash in Paramaribo. He is not related to Ed Vijent.

Vijent's large build was one of the reasons he became a goalkeeper. At the end of the 1988-89 season he was named as "Best goalkeeper of the season" in the Eerste Divisie. Vijent resembled AFC Ajax goalkeeper and close friend Stanley Menzo, who often borrowed Vijent's drivers license.

Together with Menzo and teammate Radjin de Haan he was invited by Sonny Hasnoe, the founder of the Colourful 11, to be part of the team and travel to Suriname to play in the "Boxel Kleurrijk Tournament" against three Surinamese teams. Although Menzo was instructed to not participate in the tournament by Ajax, he defied his club, booking an earlier flight to Suriname. On 7 June 1989, Surinam Airways Flight PY764 crashed during approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, killing 176 of the 187 passengers on board, including Vijent, making it the worst ever aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Of the 18-member Colourful 11 team, only De Haan and two other team members survived the accident.

Vijent's younger brother Patrick was facing psychological problems even before Florian's death. His problems, however, merely worsened after Florian's death and only a few days after the accident he committed suicide by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train.

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