A Professor of English at Carleton University, Pius Adesanmi, has been confirmed dead. He died during a plane mishap in the early hours of Sunday. It was established that an Ethiopian Airlines flight between Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, crashed, killing 149 passengers and eight crew members aboard.
All 157 people on board an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 that crashed en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi have been confirmed dead. Ethiopia’s state broadcaster, EBC, confirmed this in an update Sunday morning. The 149 passengers and eight crew were of 33 nationalities.
“We hereby confirm that our scheduled flight ET 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved in an accident today,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday.
“It is believed that there were 149 passengers and eight crew on board the flight but we are currently confirming the details of the passenger manifest for the flight,” it added.
The plane took off at 8:38 am (06:38 GMT) from Bole International Airport and “lost contact” six minutes later near Bishoftu, a town about 60km southeast of Addis Ababa by road.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed “deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regularly scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning.” Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta offered prayers for the family members and loved ones of those on the plane.
“We are saddened by the news of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger aircraft that is reported to have crashed 6 minutes after takeoff en route to Kenya. My prayers go to all the families and associates of those on board,” Kenyatta said in Twitter.
On his part, President Buhari via his media aide Malam Garba Shehu, in a two-paragraph statement on Sunday night in Abuja, said Buhari also condoled with friends of the distinguished Nigerians and the other passengers and crew who lost their lives in the plane disaster.
He said: “My thoughts are with the families and friends of these distinguished Nigerians and the other passengers and crew who lost their lives in the plane crash in Addis Ababa. May the Almighty Allah give them strength and fortitude to bear the loss.”
It is to be noted that the Boeing 737-800MAX is the same type of plane as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed last October, 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.
