Angry relatives walk out of meeting with airline
ADDIS ABABA: Families of some of the 157 victims of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 stormed out of a meeting with the airline yesterday, complaining they were not being given timely information, as others paid their respects at the burnt crash site.
The airline had called a meeting with families in a hotel here but around 100 relatives walked out.
“I’m so angry. They called us to give us a report on bodies and reasons for the crash, but there was no information.” said Yemeni citizen Abdulmajid Shariff, 38, who lost his brother-in-law in Sunday’s disaster.
“We wanted to be told about DNA identification but they told us nothing. They were just offering condolences,” said a Kenyan who lost her sister.
Some relatives travelled over bumpy roads to the crash site in a sombre convoy. Yellow tape demarcated the lines of grief: families stepped onto the churned earth as diplomats and airline staff watched respectfully.
“My son! Stiph, you’ve been scattered on the ground,” wailed one elderly black-clad woman as relatives tried to hold her.
Another woman, draped in a traditional mourning shawl, held a portrait of her brother.
“I can’t find you! Where are you?” she cried.
In Jakarta, Indonesia plans to send a flight inspector and an official from its transport safety agency to Ethiopia to help with the probe, Transport Ministry official Polana Pramesti said yesterday. A woman playing with a cat during a cat yoga class at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe in New York on Wednesday. (Inset) A cat trying to mesmerise the camera.