11 Mar 2019
UN ‘in mourning’ as 22 people affiliated with it and 32 Kenyan citizens are among the dead
Passengers from more than 35 nations were among the 157 people killed after an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed six minutes after takeoff on Sunday morning.
The Boeing 737 Max 8 plane was believed to be carrying 149 passengers and eight crew when it hit the ground. The passengers included 32 Kenyan citizens, 18 from Canada, nine from Ethiopia, eight from Italy, China and the US, and seven from the UK and France.
UN assembly attendees
Many of the people onboard were en route to the UN environment assembly in the Kenyan capital.
Officials said at least 22 people affiliated with the organisation were killed in the crash, with some of the names yet to be disclosed.
At the opening of the UN assembly, delegates paid their respects with a moment of silence.
Siim Kiisler, the Estonian environment minister, said: “We have lost fellow delegates, interpreters and UN staff.”
“I express my condolences to those who lost loved ones in the crash.”
Inger Andersen, the incoming UN environment chief, said the organisation was “devastated”.
She added: “This is a house in mourning, but a house that doesn’t yet know all the facts.”
The African Diaspora Youth Forum in Europe said its co-chairman Karim Saafi had been a passenger on the flight and was due to represent them at a meeting with the African Union in Nairobi.
Save the Children said its child protection in emergencies adviser, Tamirat Mulu Demessie, was among the dead.
A spokesman for the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said he was “deeply saddened at the tragic loss of lives”.
He added: “He conveys his heartfelt sympathies and solidarity to the victims’ families and loved ones, including those of United Nations staff members, as well as sincere condolences to the government and people of Ethiopia.”
UK
At least seven Britons were on the flight, the Foreign Office said, including Joanna Toole, a 36-year-old environmental campaigner from Exmouth, Devon, who worked for the fisheries and aquaculture department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The department’s director, Manuel Barange, tweeted that he was “profoundly sad and lost for words”. He said she had been travelling to Nairobi to represent the FAO at the UN environment assembly.
Barange said Toole, who lived in Rome, where the FAO is based, was “a wonderful human being who loved her work with a passion. Our love to her family and loved ones.”
Her father, Adrian, told Devon Live: “Joanna’s work was not a job, it was her vocation. She had never really wanted to do anything else but work in animal welfare since she was a child.
“Everybody was very proud of her and the work she did; we’re still in a state of shock.”
Sarah Auffret, 30, another victim, was believed to be a French-British dual citizen. The Plymouth University graduate was an environmental agent for the Norway-based Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, and had been travelling to the same UN event.
Theresa May said she was “deeply saddened to hear of the devastating loss of life following the plane crash in Ethiopia”.
The prime minister wrote on Twitter: “At this very difficult time, my thoughts are with the families and friends of the British citizens onboard and all those affected by this tragic incident.”
Nigeria
Abiodun Oluremi Bashua, an ambassador from Nigeria, was also killed in the crash. The Nigerian foreign ministry said it received the news of his death “with great shock”.
After joining the Nigerian foreign service in 1976, Bashua served at embassies in cities around the world, including Vienna, Abidjan and Tehran.
He also served as secretary to the conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the time of his death, Bashua was on contract with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Pius Adesanmi, a Nigerian professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, also died on the flight.
Adesanmi, the author of Naija No Dey Carry Last, a collection of satirical essays, was described as a “towering figure in African and postcolonial scholarship” by Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Carleton’s president and vice-chancellor.
Ireland
One Irish national, Michael Ryan, was killed. Ryan worked for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) as a global deputy chief engineer, and had been on a work trip in Ethiopia.
The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, paid tribute to him on Twitter, saying: “Our thoughts tonight are with families of all those lost in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, including Irish engineer Michael Ryan.
“Michael was doing life-changing work in Africa with the World Food Programme. Deepest sympathies to family, colleagues & friends.”
Germany
The German national Anne-Katrin Feigl was named as a victim of the crash by the International Organisation for Migration.
She was en route to a training course in Nairobi as part of her role as a junior professional officer at the organisation.
German pastor Reverend Norman Tendis, 51, was also among the victims. He was based in Austria and was travelling to the UN environment summit.
Italy
Three members of the humanitarian organisation Africa Tremila, based in Bergamo, were onboard.
The aid group’s president, Carlo Spini, his wife, Gabriella Viggiani, and its treasurer, Matteo Ravasio, were among the eight Italians killed.
Virginia Chimenti and Maria Pilar Buzzetti, who worked for the WFP, also died.
Sebastiano Tusa, 66, a renowned underwater archaeologist, was killed, the Italian government said. He had been flying to Kenya for a project with Unesco.
In a tweet, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said: “We are united with the relatives of the victims and offer them our heartfelt thoughts.”
Kenya
Senior Capt Yared Mulugeta Gatechew, who was of Kenyan and Ethiopian heritage, was the main pilot on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and had been working for the airline since November 2007.
Other victims from Kenya included Hussein Swaleh, a former secretary general of the Football Kenya Federation, who was due to return home on the flight after working as the match commissioner in an African Champions League game in Egypt on Friday.
Another Kenyan on the flight was Cedric Asiavugwa, a law student at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Asiavugwa, who was born and raised in Mombasa, was on his way to Nairobi after the death of his fiancee’s mother. Before he came to Georgetown, he worked with groups helping refugees in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the university said.
The family of Joseph Waithaka, 55, a Kenyan and British dual national, said he had died in the crash.
His son Ben Kuria told the BBC his father, who lived in Hull for more than a decade before moving back to Kenya, was a “generous” man who “loved justice”.
Waithaka, who had worked for Humberside probation trust, saw his son on Saturday in Croydon, London, before flying to Kenya via Addis Ababa.
“I gave him a hug and shook his hand, because in my culture it’s more about the handshake than it is about the hug,” Kuria told BBC News. “I said we’ll probably see you at some point soon. We usually spend a bit more time saying goodbye, but yesterday it kind of just felt routine.”
Former Kenyan journalist Anthony Ngare, who was working for the UN’s cultural agency Unesco as a deputy director of communications, also lost his life.
The 49-year-old had recently represented Kenya at a UN conference in Paris and was on his way to Nairobi.
Ethiopia
Sara Gebre Michael, the lead hostess on the plane, was a caring mother who would be sorely missed, said neighbour Tesfaye Mamo, an Ethiopian artist.
Michael is survived by her husband and three children.
Togo
Dr Kodjo Glato was a professor at the University of Lomé.
Ryan Brown, Johannesburg bureau chief for international news organisation CS Monitor, tweeted that Dr Glato had “a passion for sweet potatoes and how they could be used to improve food security in west Africa”.
Austria
The Austrian foreign ministry spokesman, Peter Guschelbauer, said three doctors in their early 30s were onboard. The men were on their way to Zanzibar, he said, but he could not confirm the purpose of their trip.
Slovakia
A lawmaker from Slovakia said his wife, Blanka, daughter, Michala, and son, Martin, were killed in the crash. Anton Hrnko from the nationalist Slovak National Party said he was “in deep grief” over their deaths.
The Slovakian president, Andrej Kiska, offered his condolences to Hrnko.
Sweden
Three Swedish nationals are believed to have been on the plane. Tamarind Group, a hospitality company, announced “with immense shock and grief” that its chief executive, Jonathan Seex, was among the victims.
Norway
Karoline Aadland, 28, was a programme finance co-ordinator for the Norwegian Red Cross.
The Norwegian Red Cross wrote on Twitter: “Our thoughts are with her next of kin. Our focus is on providing them with assistance in this difficult time.”
Russia
Yekaterina Polyakova, Alexander Polyakov and Sergei Vyalikov, all tourists, were among the Russians on the flight, said the Russian embassy in Ethiopia.
United States
Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services announced that four of its colleagues died in the crash.
The aid group said Sara Chalachew, Getnet Alemayehu, Sintayehu Aymeku and Mulusew Alemu had been travelling to Nairobi for training.
Canada
Danielle Moore, 24, was travelling to the UN environment conference. She was working as a member of the clean ocean advocacy group Ocean Wise and as an education lead for charity Canada Learning Code.
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said he joined the international community in mourning the lives of so many victims. The Canadian government is providing consular assistance and working with local authorities to gather further information, his statement added.
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