The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ethiopian plane crash: What we know
At least 22 people who worked for U.N.-affiliated agencies were aboard the plane that crashed Sunday.
THE CRASH
A day after an Ethiopian Airlines plane went down in clear weather shortly after takeoff, killing 157 people, investigators found the jetliner’s two flight recorders at the crash site outside the capital of Addis Ababa. The cause has not yet been determined.
THE AIRPLANE
The crash was expected to renew questions about the 737 Max 8, the newest version of Boeing’s popular airliner. A Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesian seas last year, killing 189 people. The company said it had no reason to pull the aircraft from the skies.
THE REACTION
Airlines in Ethiopia, China, Indonesia and elsewhere grounded their Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliners Monday after the crash. Southwest and American, the biggest U.S. operators of the Max 8, said they have confidence in the planes and have no plans to ground them.
One was a lecturer interested in the effective use of computers in the classroom. The other had published papers on the challenges of teaching English as a second language in Kenya. Both excelled at teaching others to teach.
The two professors at Kenyatta University in Kenya shared something else in common: They were passengers on Ethiopian Airways Flight 302, heading home after a work trip in Italy. The plane crashed Sunday shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people aboard.
Kenyatta University officials confirmed the deaths of the professors, Isaac Mwangi, a lecturer in the department of education, communication and technology, and Agnes Gathumbi, a director of teacher professional development.
Aid workers were also killed in the crash. Four were employees of Catholic Relief Services, all of them Ethiopian citizens who were traveling to Nairobi for training.
Sintayehu Aymeku was a procurement manager who left behind a wife and three daughters. Sara Chalachew was a senior project officer for grants. Mulusew Alemu was a senior officer in the finance department. Getnet Alemayehu was a senior project officer for procurement and compliance. He had a wife and one daughter.
“Although we are in mourning, we celebrate the lives of these colleagues and the selfless contributions they made to our mission, despite the risks and sacrifices that humanitarian work can often entail,” the organization said in a statement.
In Nigeria, the government confirmed the death of Abiodun Bashuaa, a former ambassador who had been working with the United Nations Economic Com- mission for Africa.
He joined the Nigerian foreign service in 1976 and worked in several countries, including Austria, Ivory Coast, and Iran, according to a statement from the Nigerian Foreign Ministry. He also worked with the United Nations on peacekeeping operations and climate change issues.
A day after the crash, a somber mood engulfed the U.N. head- quarters in Nairobi, as politicians, environmentalists and government officials gathered for a major U.N. meeting on the environment — a destination for many people aboard the flight.
At least 22 people who worked for U.N.-affiliated agencies were aboard the flight.
One was Joanna Toole, a U.N. fisheries consultant from southwest England, who two days before she boarded the flight tweeted that she was happy to be among an increasing number of women working for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
“Great to be part of the growing number of women” working on fisheries issues, she wrote, adding a hashtag referring to International Women’s Day.
The crash — of a flight that had been nicknamed the “U.N. shuttle” because of how often U.N. staff members take it — has also highlighted the organization’s work in some of the world’s most troubled regions, from South Sudan to North Korea.
The United Nations said its staff members on the flight had worked with several agency programs and affiliated organizations, as well as U.N. offices in Kenya and Somalia.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres offered “heartfelt condolences” to the families and loved ones of the U.N. staff members who died in the crash. He also said in an email to staff that flags at U.N. offices would fly at half-mast Monday to honor the victims.
The World Food Program said seven of its staff members had died in the crash, the most of any U.N. organization. The program’s work focuses on widespread hunger caused by war or instability in Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, among other countries.