157 killed in airline crash

THE Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed killing 157 people yesterday had flown from Johannesburg earlier in the morning, said its chief executive, Tewolde GebreMariam.

“We received the plane on November 15 last year. It has flown more than 1200 hours. It had flown from Johannesburg earlier this morning,” he said. “The pilot mentioned that he had difficulties and that he wanted to return.”

Flight ET302/10 was on its scheduled service from Addis Ababa to Kenya when it crashed after take-off.

South African diplomatic missions in Addis Ababa and Nairobi have been directed to work with Ethiopian Airlines to ascertain whether any passengers killed were travelling on South African passports.

The airlines carried passengers from more than 30 countries, GebreMariam told journalists. They included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven British citizens, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Dutch citizens, four Indians, four people from Slovakia, three Austrians, three Swedes, three Russians, two Moroccans, two Spaniards, two Poles and two Israelis.

Belgium, Indonesia, Somalia, Norway, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen each had one citizen on board.

President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed great sadness and sent a message condolence to the families.