- Names of victims of Ethiopian plane crash
The pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday, killing 157 people on board, had alerted controllers that he was experiencing difficulties and wanted to return to Addis, the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines said. The pilot “was given clearance” to return, Tewolde GebreMariam told journalists in Addis Ababa, after visiting the crash site.
The four-month-old Boeing plane, en route to Nairobi, lost contact at 8:44 local time, six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport, the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines said. The aircraft, Boeing 737-8 Max, went down in an area called Ejere, near Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa.
It said thirty-two Kenyans, eighteen Canadians, eighteen Ethiopians, eight Chinese, eight Italians, eight Americans, seven British and seven French nationals were among the passengers, Radio Fana reported. There were also six Egyptians, five from the Netherlands, four from both India and Slovakia, three from Russia, three Austrian and three Swedish; two Moroccan, Spanish, Polish, Israeli and one each from Belgium, Indonesia, Uganda, Yemen, Sudan, Togo, Serbia, Mozambique,
The plane had arrived from Johannesburg earlier today, inspected before departing again for Kenya after three hours and the pilot, Capitan Yared Getachew, an Ethiopian-born Kenyan national, had more than 8,000 hours flying experience, according to Tewolde GebreMariam.
In a statement posted on its Twitter page, the Ethiopian airlines wrote: “It is too early to speculate the cause of the accident and further investigation will be carried out to find out the cause of the accident in collaboration with all stakeholders including the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and other International entities to maintain the international standard and information will be provided once the cause is identified. Ethiopian Airlines will provide all the necessary support to the families of the victims.” Ethiopian Airlines also said it has already notified the families of the victims of the fatal accident.
The passengers on the board
Names of the passengers on the flight are starting to emerge: Slovakian MP, Anton Hrnko, lost his wife and his children in the plane crash. “It is with great sadness that I announce that my dear wife, Blanka, my son Martin and my daughter Michala have died in the tragedy in Addis Ababa,” the MP wrote on his Facebook page.
Somalia Prime Minister’s chief protocol Abdishakur Shahad and Kenyan Football Federation official Hussein Swaleh were among those who perished. Also among the Kenyan dead were two senior lecturers from Kenyatta University, Prof. Agnus Gathumbi, and Dr. Issac Mwangi. Nairobi based Tamarind Hotel boss Jonathan Seex and Italian archaeologist from the University of Naples, Sebastiano Tusa are among those killed. Prof. Pius Adesanmi, director of the Institute of African Studies, and Jessica Hyba, the staff at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees were among the 18 Canadians killed in the disaster. Irishman Michael Ryan has been named as one of the seven staff of the World Food Programme (WFP) who were among those aboard. Two other employees of the WFP, Italians Virginia Chimenti, 26, and Maria Pilar Buzzetti, 30 were also among the victims. British staff of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, Joanna Toole was confirmed to have died. Another British national victim was Polar tourism expert Sarah Auffret who was making her way to Nairobi to discuss tackling plastic pollution in the seas at the UN assembly, according to her Norway-based employers Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO). A UNDP consultant attached to the Indian Environment Ministry, Shikha Garg was named by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj. Save the Children USA said one of its staffers died in the tragedy. Ethiopian national Tamirat Mulu Demessie served as a Child Protection in Emergencies Technical advisor, and worked tirelessly to ensure that vulnerable children are safe during humanitarian crises, it said in a statement. Four Ethiopian nationals working for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Sara Chalachew, Getnet Alemayehu, Sintayehu Aymeku, and Mulusew Alemu were killed, CRS said in a statement. German national Anne-Katrin Feigl was named as a crash victim by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
Paolo Dieci, a founder of the International Committee for the Development of Peoples, CISP international, an aid group that works with Unicef, was among the dead. Another three Italians worked for the Bergamo-based humanitarian agency Africa Tremila: Carlo Spini, his wife Gabriella Viggiani and the treasurer, Matteo Ravasio. The African Diaspora Youth Forum in Europe Co-chairman Karim Saafi had been a passenger on the flight. A former Nigerian ambassador, Abiodun Oluremi Bashua, is among the victims, it was learned. A statement from Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry says the retired career envoy served in various capacities in Iran, Austria and Ivory Coast.
Main Image: People walk past a part of the wreckage at the scene of the ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu.
First my sincere condolences to all who lost loved ones in the tragic accident.
PM Abiy should immediately should establish a Commission of Inquiry to thoroughly
investigate the present accident, internal operation at every level of the Airline with the
view to identifying the human and technical elements to the accident. I also
suggest CEO Tewolde be relieved of his duties until the investigation is completed.
Why do I say this?
1/ Boeing aircraft seems to have recurring (electrical) problems. A flight out of Beirut exploded in 2010 after takeoff with all 90 aboard dead. There was promised an investigation but little was made public. Most of the 90 passengers were Ethiopian maids returning to their homeland. You would not want to waste energy and money over maids, would you? Not when the facts show the sorry way Ethiopian rulers have treated citizens routinely refusing to account for ANY tragedy. My hunch is that Ethiopian authorities made a deal to save Boeing embarrassment, huge money, and PR disaster. It is not by accident that Ethiopian Airlines received a huge break in financing new and increased fleet thereafter! The present disaster will be different in that passengers are very diverse and many are white European who will not rest until satisfactory reasons are provided.
2/ In 2013 a parked EAL Boeing caught fire at Heathrow airport (remember the aircrafts are relatively new!). Ethiopian authorities got on with Boeing. Similar incident was repeated at Bole International.
3/ Since CEO Tewolde took over the running of Ethiopian Airlines many excellent pilots and mechanics/technicians have left over poor pay and ethnic politicization of the Airlines. Tewolde, a political appointee of the ruling minority, has been known for planting eavesdroppers within the system that turned the Airline into a zone of unbearable conflict.
4/ In the Beirut outbound disaster “pilot error” was given as one explanation initially. That was later disputed; in fact, the argument primarily came from Lebanese authorities. For Ethiopian Airlines to agree to “pilot error” would have undermined its own credibility. Terrorism was entertained for a while but soon dropped.
Here is my judgment. Establish a Commission of Inquiry. Relieve CEO Tewolde of his duties. In the meantime, identify and correct weak links in the system, and assign competent leaders from among those who have left or are retired! That kind of practical steps is necessary to sustain confidence in the national carrier!!
I want to express my deep condolences to all the families, friends and relatives who lost their loved ones’ during that flight. Before one should establish a commission it is better to hold the Weyane recruit Tewolde’s cold feet to the blazing fire and weed out all TPLF employees who was hired without merits once and for all.
Wishing to express Deep condolences for all families,all Ethiopians and nations who lost their citizens on the occatisions!!!