UN worker named as air crash victim
JET TRAGEDY: SEVEN BRITISH PASSENGERS DIE IN AFRICAN DISASTER
A UNITED Nations worker was last night named as one of the seven British passengers who were among 157 people killed when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after take-off.
Joanna Toole, a 36-year-old from Devon, was said to have been killed when the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane destined for Nairobi hit the ground six minutes after departing Addis Ababa yesterday morning.
Colleagues at the UN fisheries and aquaculture department described her as a “wonderful human being”, while her father said she was a “very soft and loving” woman.
The one Irish victim was named by the UN as Michael Ryan, who is based in Rome for its World Food Programme.
The Foreign Office confirmed that at least seven Britons were on board flight ET302, which crashed in Ethiopia at about 8.45am local time leaving no survivors.
Ethiopian Airlines said it had contacted the families of all victims, who came from 35 nations.
Ms Toole’s father Adrian, from Exmouth, told the DevonLive website that she was “genuinely one of those people who you never hear a bad word about”.
“Everybody was very proud of her and the work she did, we’re still in a state of shock,” he added. Manuel Barange, a UN director, said he was “profoundly sad and lost for words” over her death, saying she had been travelling to Nairobi to represent
She was one of those people who you never hear a bad word about. Joanna Toole’s father, Adrian, from Exmouth.
the organisation at the UN Environment Assembly.
A spokesman for the World Food Programme, which distributes billions of rations yearly, said he could “very, very sadly confirm” that Mr Ryan was among those killed.
Prime Minister Theresa May said that she was “deeply saddened” to learn of the disaster, and offered her thoughts to everyone “affected by this tragic incident”.
AN ETHIOPIAN Airlines flight crashed shortly after take-off from Ethiopia’s capital, killing all 157 on board.
Grieving families rushed to airports in Addis Ababa and the plane’s destination, Nairobi in Kenya.
More than 30 nationalities were among the dead, including Britons.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash of the Boeing 737-8 MAX plane, which was new and had been delivered to the airline in November.
The pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return, the airline’s CEO told reporters.
The state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, widely considered the best-managed airline in Africa, calls itself Africa’s largest carrier and has ambitions of becoming the gateway to the continent. It is known as an early buyer of new aircraft as it assertively expands.
The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were thought to be on the plane.
Kenyans, Canadians, Chinese, Americans, Ethiopians, Italians, French, British, Egyptians, Indians, Slovakians and others were among the dead, said the airline’s CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam.
The plane crashed six minutes after departing Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya’s capital, some 31 miles south of Addis Ababa.
The airline later published a photo showing its CEO standing in the wreckage. Little of the plane could be seen in the freshly churned earth.
The CEO “expresses his profound sympathy and condolences to the families and loved ones of passengers and crew who lost their lives in this tragic accident”.
The plane had showed unstable vertical speed after take-off, air traffic monitor Flightradar 24 said in a Twitter post. Visibility was clear.
The airline has said 157 people were thought to be on board. State broadcaster EBC reported that 33 nationalities were among DEVASTATION: the victims. The airline’s CEO said those included 32 Kenyans and nine Ethiopians.
Authorities said other victims include 18 Canadians; eight each from China, the United States and Italy; seven each from France and Britain; six from Egypt; five from the Netherlands and four each from India and Slovakia. Spain’s foreign ministry said two Spanish nationals were on board.
The Ethiopian prime minister’s office offered its “deepest condolences” to families. “My prayers go to all the families and associates of those on board,” Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said.
The Addis Ababa-Nairobi route links East Africa’s two largest economic powers and is popular with tourists making their way to safari and other destinations.
At the airport in Nairobi, worried families gathered. “I came to the airport to receive my brother but I have been told there is a problem,” said Agnes Muilu. “I just pray that he is safe or he was not on it.”