Nigerian professor, Pius Adesanmi, dies in Ethiopian air crash
Two Nigerians, Prof. Pius Adesanmi abd Amb.Abiodun Bashua, were among the 157 victims of yesterday’s crash of the Ethiopian Airline flight 302, a source at the Airline confirmed in Lagos last night.
Adesanmi, a Nigerian-born Canadian professor, writer and literary critic, satirist, and columnist, was carrying a Canadian passport; while Bashua, who was a former United Nations and African Union Deputy Special Representative in Dafur, was carrying a UN’s passport.
The passengers’ information released yesterday by the airline showed that the destination country suffered the highest casualties with 32 of its nationals involved, followed by Canada ,18; Ethiopian, 9; China, Italy and USA, 8 each; France and UK, 7; Egypt, 6; Germany, 5; India and Slovakia, 4 each; Austria, Russia, Sweden, 3 each and Spain, Israel, Morocco, Poland, 2 each.
Other countries with one national on board were Belgium, Djibouti, Indonesia, Ireland, Mozambique, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi, Sudan, Somalia, Serbia, Togo, Uganda, Yemen and Nepal.
In a release, e-mailed to our correspondent, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, said: ”It is too early to speculate the cause of the accident and further investigation will be carried out to find out the cause of the accident in collaboration with all stakeholders including the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and other international entities to maintain the international standard and information will be provided once the cause is identified.”
According to him, Ethiopian Airlines will provide all the necessary support to the families of the victims.”
The statement disclosed that a senior captain named Yared Getachew with a cumulative flight hour of more than 8,000 and with a commendable performance was commanding the flight along with first officer Ahmed Nur Mohammod Nur who had a flight hour of 200.
The airline added that the crashed airplane flew back to Addis from Johannesburg Sunday morning before being positioned for the Nairobi flight.
It said the plane underwent “a rigorous first check maintenance in February 04, 2019.”
The aircraft was the same as the Lion Air plane which crashed in October, last year in Indonesia killing 189 people on board.
Experts have expressed concern over the fate of the B737-800.
Capt. Ibrahim Yunusa, a veteran pilot, told our correspondent that the aircraft might be suffering from a design error.