No Dutch among 157 killed in Ethiopian Airlines crash
An Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday, killing all 157 people onboard the aircraft. Five German people among the dead were originally misidentified as Dutch people by the authorities in Kenya.
This was corrected later Sunday afternoon and affirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Netherlands at 4:20 p.m. on Twitter.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8, with flight number ET 302, was due to land in Nairobi, Kenya around 10:30 a.m. local time, but slammed into the ground just southeast of Addis Ababa at 8:44 a.m.
The pilot at the aircraft's controls reported difficulty with the plane, and requested to return to the airport. The flight was in the air for only about six minutes, with some flight tracking websites reporting an unstable vertical speed.
There were no known technical problem with the airplane, the airline's CEO said. The pilot reportedly had a solid performance record.
There were 32 Kenyans and nine Ethiopians on the plane, according to James Macharia, the Secretary of Transportation in Kenya. Accompanying them were the five German people, two Moroccans, and four using UN passports, as well as:
- 18 Canadians
- 8 Americans
- 8 Chinese
- 7 British
- 7 French
- 6 Egyptians
- 4 Indians
- 4 Slovakians
- 3 Austrians
- 3 Russians
- 3 Swedes
- 2 Israelis
- 2 Polish
- 2 Spanish
- 1 Belgian
- 1 Irish
- 1 Norwegian
- 1 Saudi
- 1 Togolese
- 1 Ugandan
- 1 Yemeni
The crash is the second involving this specific aircraft model in recent months. It is the first Ethiopian Airlines flight to register a fatality since ET 409 crashed in the Mediterranean Sea after taking off from Beirut.
All ninety people died on that flight to Addis Ababa. The January 2010 incident was caused by stormy weather.
