Mass funeral held for Ethiopia jet victims

FAMILIES GIVEN EARTH FROM CRASH

THOUSANDS of Ethiopians have attended a mass funeral ceremony in the country’s capital, a week after a plane crash killed 157 people.

Some victims’ relatives fainted and fell to the ground during the procession through Addis Ababa yesterday. Seventeen empty caskets were laid to rest in remembrance of the victims from Ethiopia.

The victims came from 35 countries. Officials have begun delivering bags of earth to family members instead of the remains because the identification process is going to take such a long time.

Many families have held religious ceremonies and relatives have gathered at the rural, dusty crash site outside Ethiopia’s capital.

Earlier, it emerged families are being given a 1kg sack of scorched earth taken from the crash sites.

“The soil came as it became impossible to identify bodies and hand over remains to family members,” a family member said.

“We will not rest until we are given the real body or body parts of our loved ones.”

Forensic DNA work has begun on identifying the remains but it may take six months to identify the victims. However, authorities say they will issue death certificates within two weeks.

Meanwhile, in Paris, investigators have started studying the cockpit voice recorder of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines jet.

The BEA also said work resumed on the flight’s data recorders.