Ethiopian Airlines has confirmed that the black box from the flight has been found.The black box or digital flight data recorder will offer the first pointers as to what led to the Ethiopian Airlines plane to crash just six minutes after takeoff.
The flight’s cockpit voice recorder has also been recovered, the airline said.
Crash Site
There is plenty of activity at the scene of the crash, about a two-hour drive from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The remains of the aircraft sit in a crater about the size of a basketball court, where Kenyan Red Cross officials wearing face masks and gloves are delicately looking for debris, belongings and body parts.
As inhabitants of the remote, rural part of Ethiopia looked on from behind a security cordon, inspectors early Monday searched the site for plane debris, passenger belongings and human remains.
Personal items such as handbags are being looked for to obtain identification documents, while parts from the plane are being placed in a separate pile for further inspection. Two large diggers are on hand, clearing soil from the scene.Hundreds of local residents are bordering the perimeter of the site.
Mourning
Ethiopia’s parliament proclaimed Monday a day of mourning over the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines jet, which ploughed into a field some 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of Addis Ababa on Sunday– just six minutes after taking off from the capital on a flight to Nairobi.
At least 22 UN staff got on the flight, many headed for an annual assembly of the UN Environment Programme which opened under a dark cloud in Nairobi Monday.
Delegates arrived with the UN flag flying at half-mast, embracing and comforting one another as they wondered who among the staff may have gotten on the plane.
” Let us reflect that our colleagues were willing to travel and to work far from their homes and loved ones to make the world a better place to live,” UN Habitat head Maimunah Sharif told some of those gathered.
Amongst the dead were personnel from the World Food Programme, the UN refugee agency, the International Organization for Migration, and Food and Agriculture Organization, the agencies said.
Nairobi hosts the global headquarters of UNEP and UN Habitat, and is the regional seat of several other UN agencies.
“Deeply saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the lives of all on board,” tweeted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The single-aisle Boeing made a deep, black crater at the impact site, which was being dug up with a mechanical excavator.
American Airlines express “full confidence” in MAX 8
American Airlines doesn’t seem to be taking after China, Ethiopia and the Cayman Islands by grounding its Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes.
The airline has 24 models of the jet in its fleet, according to the website PlaneSpotters, which monitor aircraft deliveries.
“We have full confidence in the aircraft and our crew members, who are the best and most experienced in the industry,” American Airlines said in a statement.
“American Airlines extends our condolences to the families and friends of those on board Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. At this time there are no facts on the cause of the accident other than news reports,” the statement added.
Sunday’s disaster in Ethiopia is the second time a MAX 8 aircraft has crashed in less than six months. American is working together with the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory authorities, the company said.
Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier, said Monday it was grounding its remaining fleet of six 737 MAX 8 Boeings “until further notice”.
China, too, ordered domestic airlines to suspend the commercial operation of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. The country had eight nationals among the 157 people– 149 passengers and eight crew– aboard the ill-fated flight ET 302.
Boeing has described the MAX series as its fastest-selling airplane ever, with more than 4,500 orders placed by July 2018 from 99 customers worldwide.
State-owned Ethiopian Airlines had ordered 30.
The plane that crashed Sunday was new, delivered to Ethiopia on November 15, the carrier said.
It is the same type as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October, 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people from 35 countries on board.
— Plane on fire–.
One witness, Tegegn Dechasa, told AFP at the site that “the plane was already on fire when it crashed to the ground. The crash caused a big explosion.”.
Another, farmer Sisay Gemechu, said, “The plane seemed to be aiming to land at a nearby level open field, but crashed before reaching there.”.
Ethiopian Airlines said the pilot had been granted clearance to turn around after flagging challenges to airport authorities.
” A committee comprising of Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and Ethiopian Transport Authority has been set up to carry out the investigations,” the airline said.
” Once the deceased are identified, their bodies will be delivered to their families and loved ones.”.
Details of the passengers emerge.
Among them was Cedric Asiavugwa, a Kenyan third-year student at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, who had been due to graduate in the spring and was visiting home, the university said.
Kenya had the highest casualtyy with 32, according to the airline.
Canada followed with 18 victims, including Nigerian-born author Pius Adesanmi, who directed the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University.
The airline said Ethiopia had nine victims, then Italy, China, and the United States with eight each. Britain and France each had seven people on board, Egypt six, and Germany five– though the breakdown was tentative.
France’s government later on, said there were eight French victims.
— ‘Devastating’–.
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.
The US National Transportation Safety Board said it would send investigators to assist, and Canada deployed consular officials to Addis Ababa.
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 world and the region were in mourning.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his British counterpart Theresa May both described the news as “devastating”.
