An Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302, carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members on board, crashed a few minutes after it took-off. The flight was heading to Nairobi from Ethiopia on Sunday. In its first bulletin about the accident, Ethiopian Airlines confirmed the crash on its official website. BBC reports that the black box has been found by the investigators.
According to the Airlines, the plane took off at 08:38 am local time from Addis Ababa, Bole International Airport and lost contact at 08:44 am.
The second bulletin published by the Airlines said, “Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO deeply regrets the fatal accident involved on ET 302 /March 10 on a scheduled flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. The group CEO who is at the accident scene right now regrets to confirm that there are no survivors.”
The passengers of the Ethiopian Airlines flight came from at least 35 different countries. Most of them were from Kenya.
There is no confirmation on what led to the aeroplane crash.
Passengers were from at least 35 countries
Passengers from at least 35 countries were flying with the Ethiopian Airlines flight. However, Kenya faced the highest number of civilian casualties with 32 deaths. 18 nationals from Canada followed by 9 from Ethiopia and 8 from China, Italy and the United States respectively, lost their lives in the accident.
Britain and France had 7 passengers on board, followed by Egypt with 6 and 5 from Germany. India lost 4 civilians in the crash.
Four Indians among the dead passengers
Four Indians including a UN consultant associated with Environment Ministry was among those who died in the crash. The Indian Embassy in Ethiopia informed the Foreign Minister about the four Indians killed in the crash and shared their names.
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj expressed her grief and tweeted, “I am sorry to know about the unfortunate crash of Ethiopian Airlines plane ET 302. We have lost four Indian nationals in the air crash. I have asked Indian High Commissioner in Ethiopia to provide all help and assistance to the bereaved families.”
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