Divers search for Swissair Flight 111 off the coast of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, in September 1998

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Families who lost loved ones in the crash of Swissair Flight 111 have formed a family association to share feelings and information about the tragedy.

The formation of "The Families of Swissair Flight 111" was announced Thursday. The Swissair plane crashed into the sea off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, on September 2, killing all 229 passengers and crew on board.

The State Department mailed a letter to the next of kin of U.S. citizens killed in the crash earlier this week. In it, the group's acting spokesperson, Miles Gerety, wrote: "All of us have suffered a deep and painful loss, a loss that somehow connects us to each other. Some of us have suffered losses of almost unfathomable depths: parents have lost an only child, children have lost both parents, and a few have lost their whole family.

"We have formed The Families of "Swissair Flight 111" because we feel that, in the midst of all this pain, one of the best things we can do for ourselves and for each other is share our feelings and offer one another support. We also wish to plan a memorial appropriate to the extraordinary spirit of those who perished in Flight 111."

Gerety has also asked Swissair to mail a similar letter to non-U.S. citizens. Neither the airline nor the State Department will release information on the next of kin to the family association on grounds of privacy.

The group asked Halifax newspapers and the Internet search engine Yahoo to publish links and phone numbers for family members, making it possible for relatives to organize their own system of information-gathering within days.

Members obtain information from the medical examiner and the Canadian Transportation Safety Board every day and post it on the Web site so families can learn and discuss information before it is disseminated in the media. The group says it will also communicate by telephone and mail, in deference to those not yet connected to the Internet.

The families began to come together over the Internet after visiting Peggy's Cove, the spot on the Novia Scotia's coast closest to where the plane crashed. Relatives of the victims say they felt that information about the crash and the recovery probe "dried up" after they left the site, so they formed the group to try to keep attention focused on the crash.