Pilot of crashed plane reported ‘having difficulties’
ADDIS ABABA: The pilot of a Nairobi- bound Boeing 737 that crashed six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday, had alerted controllers “he had difficulties” and wanted to turn back the plane carrying 157 people, the head of Ethiopian Airlines said.
The pilot “was given clearance” to return to Addis, chief executive officer Tewolde GebreMariam told journalists in the Ethiopian capital when asked whether there had been a distress call.
Sunday’s flight left Bole airport in Addis Ababa at 8.38am ( 0538 GMT), before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8.44am.
The flight had unstable vertical speed after take off, said f light tracking website Flightradar24 on its Twitter feed.
The aircraft had shattered into many pieces and was severely burnt, a Reuters reporter at the scene of the crash said.
Passengers from 33 countries were aboard, said Tewolde in a news conference.
The dead included Kenyan, Ethiopian, American, Canadian, French, Chinese, Egyptian, Swedish, British and Dutch citizens.
At Nairobi airport, many relatives of passengers were left waiting at the gate for hours, with no information from airport authorities. Some learned of the crash from journalists.
“We’re just waiting for my mum. We’re just hoping she took a different flight or was delayed. She’s not picking up her phone,” said Wendy Otieno, clutching her phone and weeping.
Robert Mutanda, 46, was waiting for his brother-in-law, a Canadian citizen.
“No, we haven’t seen anyone from the airline or the airport. Nobody has told us anything, we are just standing here hoping for the best,” he told Reuters at 1pm, more than three hours after the flight was lost.
It’s not clear what caused the crash.
Boeing sent condolences to the families and said it was ready to help investigate.
“A Boeing technical team is prepared to provide technical assistance at the request and under the direction of the US National Transportation Safety Board,” the company said in a statement. — AFP