157 People Died Due To Crash Landing
Eight Americans were among 157 people killed when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday, Mar. 10 from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. The 4-month-old Boeing 737-8 MAX plane crashed six minutes into its flight to Nairobi, Kenya, hitting the ground at 8:44 a.m. local time, 31 miles south of Addis Ababa.
At least 35 nationalities, including 32 Kenyans and 18 Canadians, were among the dead, according to the airline. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and eight crewmembers. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
The pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return, said Tewolde GebreMariam, the airline’s CEO. The plane underwent routine maintenance Feb. 4 and had flown 1,200 hours, GebreMariam said. The pilot had nine years of seniority with the airline.
This accident occurred about five months after a 737 Max 8 operated by Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea off Indonesia, killing 189 people. The MAX 8 configuration — a single-aisle plane with room for up to 210 passengers — has two major crashes on its record.
The government-owned airline is Africa’s largest and has been aggressively expanding, serving 61 cities in Africa and 45 more worldwide, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington and Newark, New Jersey. It is a member of Star Alliance, which gives it terminal and code-sharing agreements with partners such as United Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa.
By: Maytinee Kramer
