Sombre events mark first anniversary of Ethiopian Airlines crash

A memorial service for UN staff killed in the crash, held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa headquarters in Addis Ababa. Family members of the victims, among others, attending a memorial service in Addis Ababa on Tuesday for the 157 people who
Family members of the victims, among others, attending a memorial service in Addis Ababa on Tuesday for the 157 people who died when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed a year ago. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
A memorial service for UN staff killed in the crash, held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa headquarters in Addis Ababa. Family members of the victims, among others, attending a memorial service in Addis Ababa on Tuesday for the 157 people who
A memorial service for UN staff killed in the crash, held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa headquarters in Addis Ababa. PHOTO: REUTERS

ADDIS ABABA • Families who lost their loved ones aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 visited the crash site on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy, a day after interim results of a probe detailed faulty systems on the Boeing 737 Max jet.

All 157 people on board the Boeing jet were killed when it crashed six minutes after taking off from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on March 10 last year. It was the second accident involving the 737 Max in five months, and led to the plane being grounded worldwide.

People from 33 nations were on board the flight, many of them working with the United Nations, and hundreds of relatives and friends from across the world travelled to Ethiopia for the memorial.

Families from countries including Canada, the United States, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Italy and France attended the ceremony at the crash site, about a three-hour drive from Addis Ababa.

The events included a tree planting ceremony and the reading out of victims' names, organisers said. Police set up a roadblock about 1km from the site to prevent members of the public from attending.

At the UN offices in Addis Ababa, friends and family members of the victims lit candles in front of wreaths in honour of their loved ones and colleagues.

"We are traumatised all over again," said Ms Huguette Debets, who lost her husband Jackson Musoni, the father of their three children. "I want the world to never forget these horrific plane crashes... It should never happen again," she added.

In a separate event, Ethiopian Airlines employees gathered at the pilots' association where photographs of the victims were lined by arrangements of white roses, the traditional colour of mourning in Ethiopia.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 12, 2020, with the headline Sombre events mark first anniversary of Ethiopian Airlines crash. Subscribe