Yesterday morning, the Boeing 737 with onboard 149 passengers and eight crew members crashed in Addis Ababa. The plane rose in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and should land in Nairobi (Kenya). But six minutes after takeoff, the plane from Ethiopian Airlines collapsed. All 157 people onboard, with 35 different nationalities, lost their lives.
A few hours after the crash, Ethiopian Airlines released a list listing the different nationalities. On board were: 1 Belgian, 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, 9 Ethiopians, 8 Chinese, 8 Italians, 8 Americans, 7 British, 7 French, 6 Egyptians, 5 Germans, 4 Slovakians, 4 Indians, 3 Austrians, 3 Russians, 3 Sweden, 2 Spaniards, 2 Moroccans, 2 Israelis, 2 Poles, 1 Indonesian, 1 Irishman, 1 Ugandan, 1 Rwandan, 1 Yemenite, 1 Saudi, 1 Sudanese, 1 Somalian, 1 Togolese, 1 Mozambican, 1 Serbian, 1 Norwegian, 1 Nepali, 1 Nigerian and 1 person with a passport from the United Nations.
The Belgian on board of the plane was Ghislaine De Claremont, a woman of 60 from the Walloon Brabant Rebecq. She worked as a personal banker at ING and had become a fourth-time grandmother last month.
Not surprisingly, most passengers had the Kenyan nationality, after all, the aircraft had Nairobi as its final destination. Among them are men, women, and children.
Canadians
Furthermore, there were also strikingly many Canadians on the plane. One of them was Pius Adesanmi, an English Literature professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. “He was an inspiring figure and an important figurehead in African and postcolonial science,” says Benoit-Antoine Bacon, dean of the university. Many statements of support followed through social media.
“Prof. Pius Adesanmi made the IAS at Carleton home, for me and many African students in Ottawa. We went to his office without setting up appointments. And he took all of us seriously. He wanted to know our dreams and ambitions. He told us we were capable of great things,” writes Halima
In addition, Amina Ibrahim Odowaa and Safiya Faisal Ega, mother, and daughter were onboard the plane. They migrated to Canada in 2006 and were on their way to Kenya to visit family.
UN delegation
The 24-year-old Danielle Moore, of Canadian descent, was part of the UN delegation on board the aircraft. Joanne Toole also flew in function of the UN. The 36-year-old Toole came from Great Britain and mainly worked around the protection of the oceans. Michael (Mick) Ryan was an Irish engineer who worked for the UN food program. He had a wife and two children.
And so another 16, connected to the United Nations (UN), flew in the direction of Nairobi. Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are important destinations for humanitarian organizations. Moreover, a climate conference is starting in Nairobi today.
Peter deMarsh, from Canada, was on his way to that climate conference. He was chairman of the International Family Forestry Alliance (IFFA). He would attend a conference in Nairobi on private forests in Kenya.
Italian envoys
Poalo Dieci is one of the eight Italians who perished in the plane crash. He was a human rights lawyer and traveled just like Danielle Moore, Joanne Toole, and Irish Michael (Mick) Ryan, in function of the United Nations. In addition, the Italian Sebastiano Tusa (66) also died during the crash. He was an underwater archaeologist and chairman of the human rights organization CISP. He would attend a conference of UNESCO in Nairobi.
Two of the four Slovakians who traveled to Nairobi were relatives of politician Anton Hrnko. The man lost his wife and son.
Day of national mourning
To commemorate all victims of the crash, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a day of national mourning.
