An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max-8 has
crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all on board.
According to the airline, 149 passengers and eight crew members were on
flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.
Ethiopian Airlines said 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, 8 Americans and 7 British
nationals were among the passengers.
The crash happened at 08:44 local time, six minutes after the plane took
off.
Another jet of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months
ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190
people on board.
The cause of the disaster is not yet clear. However, the pilot had reported
difficulties and had asked to return to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airlines said.
“At this stage, we cannot rule
out anything,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told
reporters at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.
“We cannot also attribute the
cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international
regulation to wait for the investigation.”
Recovery operations were under way
near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 37 miles south-east
of Addis Ababa.
The plane was delivered to Ethiopian
Airlines on November 15, 2018. It underwent a “rigorous first check
maintenance” on February 4, the airline tweeted.
Tewolde Gebremariam said at news
conference that passengers from more than 30 countries were on board the
flight.
He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18
Canadians, 9 Ethiopians, 8 Italians, 8 Chinese, 8 Americans, 7 Britons, 7 French
citizens, 6 Egyptians, 5 Germans, 4 Indians and four people from Slovakia.
Three Austrians, 3 Swedes, 3 Russians, 2 Moroccans, 2
Spaniards, 2 Poles and two Israelis were also on the flight.
There was also one passenger each from Ireland, Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
Djibouti, Belgium, Indonesia, Somalia, Norway, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique,
Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.
One person held a UN passport, Ethiopian Airlines said. The airline believed
some passengers could have been heading to a session of the UN Environment
Assembly which begins in Nairobi on March 11.
A UN source also told AFP that “at least a dozen of the victims were
affiliated with the UN”, and that this may include freelance translators.
World Food Program executive director David Beasley said seven members of agency staff had died in the crash.
According to Swiss police, the co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Rome has hijacked the aircraft and landed in Geneva.
The hijacker – who has been arrested – waited for the pilot to go to the toilet to lock himself in the cockpit. He was unarmed. He has requested asylum in Switzerland.
The airline said in a statement that all 202 passengers and crew were safe.
Geneva airport, which was closed for a time, has now reopened.
The 30-year-old co-pilot has sought asylum due to fear of persecution in Ethiopia, police said at a news conference.
After locking himself in the cockpit, he asked to refuel at Geneva, landed the plane, climbed down from the cockpit window using a rope (available in the cockpit), and gave himself up to police.
He was unarmed and there was no risk at any time to crew or passengers, police said.
The co-pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Rome has hijacked the aircraft and landed in Geneva
The situation inside the plane remained calm throughout.
The co-pilot himself alerted the authorities to the plane’s hijacking, officials added – and passengers on the plane were unaware it had been hijacked.
The only possible offence the co-pilot could be charged with is that of hostage-taking, for which he could face up to 20 years of imprisonment, a Geneva prosecutor said at the news conference.
Flight 702 was scheduled to leave the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, at 00:30 local time, and arrive in Rome at 04:40 local time.
The Boeing 767-300 made an unscheduled landing in the Swiss city at 06:00.
The evacuation of passengers began at about 07:25; they were all searched twice and have been questioned by police.
The hijacking began over Italy, and two fighter jets – probably Italian – were scrambled to accompany the plane, Geneva airport chief executive Robert Deillon said at the news conference.
The last hijacking to take place at Geneva airport was that of an Air Afrique plane in 1985.
Boeing has requested airlines from worldwide to carry out inspections of a transmitter used to locate aircraft after a crash.
A UK regulator had recommended the inspection after a fire broke out on a 787 Dreamliner jet parked at Heathrow airport earlier this month.
It was traced to the upper rear part of the plane where the part – Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) – is fitted.
Boeing said it had asked operators of 717, Next-Generation 737, 747-400, 767 and 777 airplanes to inspect aircraft.
“We’re taking this action following the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch [AAIB] Special Bulletin, which recommended that airplane models with fixed Honeywell ELTs be inspected,” Randy Tinseth, vice president marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a blog post.
“The purpose of these inspections is to gather data to support potential rulemaking by regulators.”
Boeing has requested airlines from worldwide to carry out inspections of a transmitter used to locate aircraft after a crash
As a result of the fire on the parked Ethiopian Airlines plane, London’s Heathrow airport was closed for 90 minutes.
After the fire, the regulator had asked all Boeing 787s switch off an electrical component until further notice and suggested a safety review of similar components in other aircraft.
In a statement, the AAIB had said that the component needed more “airworthiness action”.
It had said that “it was not clear whether the combustion in the area of the ELT was initiated by a release of energy within the batteries or by an external mechanism such as an electrical short”.
It added that as the ceiling space where the ELT is located does “not typically carry the means of fire detection… had this event occurred in flight it could pose a significant safety concern and raise challenges for the cabin crew in tackling the resulting fire”.
Honeywell International, the company that makes the emergency transmitters, had said that it backed the proposal to switch them off while investigations continued, but added that it was “premature to jump to conclusions”.
Last week, two airlines disclosed issues with the wiring on their Boeing 787’s emergency transmitters,
Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA), the world’s biggest operator of Dreamliners, said last week it found damage to the battery wiring on two 787 locator transmitters during checks.
United Airlines said that it found a pinched wire during an inspection of one of its six 787s.
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