14 Bodies Recovered as Ethiopian Airlines Plane Crash
Relatives waiting anxiously at crash scene
There were ninety people on board an Ethiopian Airlines plane that took off from Beirut, Lebanon in what has been described as stormy weather conditions, that crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff on Monday. The Ethiopian Airlines plane was a Boeing 737-800 that was heading for Addis Ababa, the country’s capital. The plane reportedly disappeared off the radar five minutes after taking off . According to the President of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman, the plane had not been brought down deliberately. “As of now, a sabotage act is unlikely. The investigation will uncover the cause.”
So far, only fourteen bodies have been recovered near the crash site close to the coastal village of Na’ameh. There were Eighty-three passengers and seven crew on board the flight according to Transport Minister Ghazi al-Aridi. The airline’s CEO, Girma Wake said he had spoken with the Lebanese authorities and that they have not confirmed any survivors. There were 54 Lebanese nationals on board, 22 Ethiopian, 2 British, a Canadian, a Russian, a French, an Iraqi and a Syrian. The wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton, was on the plane, according to the French embassy.
The government of Lebanon has declared a day of mourning. The Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, visited the airport to meet distraught relatives, some of whom were upset that the plane was allowed to take off in bad weather “They should have delayed the flight for an hour or two to protect the passengers. There had been strong lightning bolts and we hear that lighting strikes at planes especially during take offs,” said a relative of one of the passengers on board.
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