Xi offers condolences over 737 crash
President Xi Jinping sent his condolences to the leaders of Ethiopia and Kenya over the loss of 157 lives in Sunday’s crash of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. It crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as the global community united in mourning.
In his messages to Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Xi said he was shocked and saddened by the crash which resulted in heavy casualties.
On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, and also in his own name, Xi said he mourned for the dead and expressed heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families of the victims.
China believed that the Ethiopian government can well handle the aftermath and Chinese government will provide necessary support and assistance, Xi said.
Premier Li Keqiang also sent a message to his Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed to express his condolences over the tragedy.
The Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives has declared a national day of mourning for victims of the tragic accident, the office of Ahmed said on Sunday.
Red Cross workers slowly picked through the widely scattered debris near the blackened crash crater, looking for the remains of 157 lives. A shredded book. A battered passport. Business cards in multiple languages. Heavy machinery dug for larger pieces of the plane.
The plane’s “black box” of flight data and a cockpit voice recorder have been found, Ethiopian Airlines said. An airline official, however, told The Associated Press that the box was partially damaged and “we will see what we can retrieve from it”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.
Forensic experts from Israel had arrived to help with the investigation, said Ethiopian Airlines’ spokesman Asrat. Ethiopian authorities are leading the investigation into the crash, assisted by experts from the United States, Kenya and others.
“These kinds of things take time,” Kenya’s Transport Minister James Macharia told reporters.
Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are major hubs for humanitarian workers. Maimunah Sharif, head of UN-Habitat, said at least 22 United Nations staff were on board. Some were expected to attend the 4th session of the UN Environment Assembly that opened on Monday in Nairobi.
All told, people from 35 coun- tries died in the crash six minutes after the plane took off from Ethiopia’s capital en route to Nairobi. Ethiopian Airlines said the senior pilot issued a distress call and was told to return but all contact was lost shortly afterward. The plane plowed into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu.
“I heard this big noise,” one local resident, Tsegaye Reta, told AP on Monday. “The villagers said that it was a plane crash, and we rushed to the site. There was a huge smoke that we couldn’t even see the plane. The parts of the plane were falling apart.”
Kenya lost 32 people, more than any country. Relatives of 25 of the victims had been contacted, Macharia said, and taking care of their welfare was of utmost importance.
Canada, Ethiopia, the US, China, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Germany, India and Slovakia each lost at least four citizens.
The crash was strikingly similar to that of a Lion Air jet of the same Boeing model in Indonesian seas last year, killing 189 people. The crash was likely to renew questions about the 737 Max 8, the newest version of Boeing’s popular single-aisle airliner, which was first introduced in 1967 and has become the world’s most common passenger jet.
Also among those who have sent messages of condolences are the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said he “was deeply saddened at the tragic loss of lives in the airplane crash”.
Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta sent his condolences to affected families and said: “My prayers go to all the families and associates of those on board.”
Rwanda President Paul Kagame said his country stands together with the people of Ethiopia. “Our thoughts are with you,” he said.
Lucie Morangi and Liu Hongjie in Nairobi, Kenya, and Pan Mengqi in Beijing contributed to the story.