I agree that if Cindy and the kids had stayed in the Temple they would have been killed in a heartbeat.
But a small point: Zach and Emma's parents were not killed in the initial crash. They were traveling alone and were to be met in LA by their mom. So they have living family elsewhere. In my version of events up inside my brain, Hurley sends them home with Desmond.
ETA: Now I see they said on the popup "LA X" that the parents were killed. So is that revisionist history by the show writers or a mistake by the popup writers?
I remember when they were being pulled out of the water by Eko after the crash the girl was crying and asking where her mom was. I seem to remember that the mom was on board. I don't have the DVD's (I am waiting to buy them all at once in blu-ray) so I could be wrong.........
In any case if they did survive the morters, Hurley sent them home! They got a big pay out from Oceanic and are very happy and rich now!
I looked up the transcript from
The Other 48 Days.Zach screams for his sister in the water so Eko goes in after her. Ana Lucia gives her CPR and when she wakes up they have this conversation:
[Emma spits up water and regains consciousness.]
ANA LUCIA: Good, let it out. You okay?
EMMA: Where's my mom?
ANA LUCIA: I don't know.
EMMA: She's meeting us in Los Angeles.
And then from
The Other Woman:
BEN: I wanna thank you for how wonderful you've been with Zack and Emma.
JULIET: They're really sweet kids. (Chuckles) Ben, they've been asking me about their mother in Los Angeles. I'm not really sure what to say.
BEN: They'll stop asking in time.