Nigerian among the 157 dead in Ethiopian Airlines crash Sunday

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Aviation, Headlines Sunday, March 10th, 2019

An Ethiopian Airlines plane Flight ET 302 enroute from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi crashed Sunday with no survivors among the 149 passengers and eight crew members. According to the airline, 18 Canadians are among the dead. The plane was carrying passengers from 33 countries.

The brand new Boeing 737 plane was delivered to the airline in mid November and crashed minutes after takeoff in the town of Bishoftu, 62 kilometre southwest of the capital of Addis Ababa, according to the airline. The doomed flight lost contact with the control tower 6 minutes after takeoff from Bole International Airport at 8:38 a.m. local time. According to the airline, the pilot requested to return to the airport due to unspecified difficulties.

Ethiopian Airlines is the biggest carrier on the continent with plans to become the gateway to the continent.

An airline spokesperson says that the victims are from 35 nationalities. Those include;
• 32 Kenya
• 18 Canada
• 9 Ethiopia
• 8 China
• 8 Italy
• 8 USA
• 7 France
• 7 UK
• 6 Egypt
• 5 Germany
• 4 India
• 4 Slovakia
• 3 Austria
• 3 Russia
• 3 Sweden
• 2 Spain
• 2 Israel
• 2 Morocco
• 2 Poland
• 1 Belgium
• 1 Djibouti
• 1 Indonesia
• 1 Ireland
• 1 Mozambique
• 1 Norway
• 1 Rwanda
• 1 Saudi
• 1 Sudan
• 1 Somalia
• 1 Serbia
• 1 Togo
• 1 Uganda
• 1 Yemen
• 1 Nepal
• 1 Nigeria
• 1 UN passport