Plane was from SA

The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed yesterday, killing everyone on board, had been piloted only hours before from Johannesburg to Addis Ababa‚ the airline disclosed. A total of 149 passengers and eight crew members were on board the flight. The victims were of 35 nationalities – with Kenya and Canada suffering the biggest casualties by nationality.

No South Africans were on board.

The airline said the plane had crashed shortly after takeoff en route to Nairobi from Addis Ababa.

The new-model Boeing had undergone “a rigorous first-check maintenance” on February 4‚ the carrier 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 Boeing‚ Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and other international entities‚” airline officials said.

The airline said the doomed flight was piloted by a senior captain‚ Yared Getachew‚ who had more than 8‚000 cumulative flight hours and a “commendable” performance record.

He was assisted by first officer Ahmed Nur Mohammod Nur, who had 200 flight hours on his record.

President Cyril Ramaphosa sent condolences to the families and the Ethiopian government. – TimesLIVE and Mandla Khoza