Red cross teams work through the debris after an Ethiopia Airlines flight to Nairobi crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 on board (AFP Photo/ Michael TEWELDE) |
Bishoftu (Ethiopia) (AFP) - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa Sunday, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff.
Ethiopia
declared a national day of mourning for Monday amid a global stream of
condolences for loved ones, many of whom gathered in tears at Nairobi's Jomo
Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
"The
House of People’s Representatives have declared March 11, 2019, a national day
of mourning for citizens of all countries that have passed in this tragic
accident," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office said on Twitter.
Identities
of the victims from 35 countries started to emerge as foreign governments and
the United Nations reacted with shock.
"Deeply
saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the
lives of all on board. My heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones
of all the victims — including our own @UN staff — who perished in this
tragedy," tweeted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The
passengers included "at least a dozen" UN-affiliated staff headed for
an annual assembly of the UN Environment Programme, which opens in Nairobi
Monday with some 4,700 heads of state, ministers, business leaders, senior UN
officials and civil society representatives, a UN source told AFP.
Some of the
UN staff were from the World Food Programme and UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the
agencies said.
Wife, son, daughter dead
Rescue
teams collect bodies at the crash site of an Ethiopia Airlines plane which
came
down near the capital Addis Ababa, killing all 157 on board (AFP Photo/
Michael
TEWELDE)
|
Wife, son, daughter dead
Slovak MP
Anton Hrnko was among the bereaved.
"It is
with deep sorrow that I announce that my dear wife, Blanka, son Martin and
daughter Michala, died in the air disaster in Addis Ababa this morning,"
he wrote on Facebook.
Flight ET
302 ploughed into a field 60 kilometres (37 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa on
what the airline's CEO Tewolde GebreMariam labelled a "very sad and tragic
day".
An
eyewitness told AFP the plane came down in flames.
"The plane
was already on fire when it crashed to the ground. The crash caused a big
explosion," Tegegn Dechasa recounted at the site, littered with passenger
belongings, human remains, and airplane parts around a massive crater at the
point of impact.
"The
plane was in flames in its rear side shortly before the crash. The plane was
swerving erratically before the crash."
The Boeing
737-800MAX was brand new, delivered to state-owned Ethiopian Airways on
November 15, said the carrier, Africa's largest.
The plane
is the same type as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October, 13
minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.
'Devastating'
Ethiopian
Airlines said the plane had taken off at 8:38 am (0538 GMT) from Bole
International Airport and "lost contact" six minutes later.
It came
down near Tulu Fara village outside the town of Bishoftu.
The
carrier, which changed its logo on Twitter to black and white from its
trademark green, yellow, and red, said "there are no survivors".
"We
can only hope that she is not on that flight," Peter Kimani, who had come
to fetch his sister at Nairobi's JKIA, told AFP after news of the disaster
reached those waiting in the arrivals hall.
Loved ones
were later brought to the onsite Sheraton Hotel where they were debriefed and
offered counselling. Journalists were not allowed in, but could hear sobbing
from inside.
Ethiopian
Airlines said Kenya had the largest number of casualties with 32, followed by
Canada with 18, Ethiopia nine, then Italy, China, and the United States with
eight each.
Britain and
France each had seven people on board, Egypt six, and Germany five, according
to the airline. France's government later said there were eight French victims
though there was no explanation for the discrepency.
Twelve
countries in Africa and 14 in Europe had citizens among the victims.
African
Union commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat spoke of "utter shock and
immense sadness", while Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the IGAD
East African bloc, said the region and the world were in mourning.
Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and his British counterpart Theresa May both
described the news as "devastating".
Sympathy messages also came from the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Britain, Germany, France and the United States.
The scene
of devastation where the Nairobi-bound Ethiopia Airlines plane came
down (AFP
Photo/Michael TEWELDE)
|
Sympathy messages also came from the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Britain, Germany, France and the United States.
Pilot had
'difficulties'
GebreMariam
said the plane had flown in from Johannesburg earlier Sunday, spent three hours
in Addis and was "despatched with no remark", meaning no problems
were flagged.
Asked if
the pilot had made a distress call, the CEO said "the pilot mentioned that
he had difficulties and he wants to return. He was given clearance" to
turn around.
Ethiopian
and American investigators will probe the crash, said GebreMariam.
For one
family member in Nairobi there was a happy ending.
Khalid Ali
Abdulrahman was waiting for his son who works in Dubai and feared the worst
when a security official told him the plane had crashed.
"I was
shocked, but shortly after, my son contacted me and told me he is still in
Addis and did not board that flight. He is waiting for the second one which has
been delayed."
Related Article:
#UPDATE Ethiopia declared a national day of mourning for Monday after a plane crash killed 157 people, as identities of the victims from 35 countries started to emerge https://t.co/MtNim4E75T pic.twitter.com/YDmO4lrrvX— AFP news agency (@AFP) 10 maart 2019
#UPDATE Airlines in Ethiopia, China and Indonesia ground Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets as investigators recover the black boxes from a brand-new passenger jet that crashed outside Addis Ababa a day earlier, killing all 157 people on board https://t.co/RxqDN1EZAI— AFP news agency (@AFP) 11 maart 2019
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