Ethiopian Airlines Jet Crashes into Mediterranean
It’s feared that all 90 people aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 have been killed when the jet plunged into the Mediterranean off the coast of Lebanon during a big storm on Monday. Witnesses of the crash said that they actually saw a ball of fire fall into the water.
The flight disappeared from the radar about 5 minutes after it took off from Beirut at about 12:30GMT. Authorities aren’t sure what caused the crash yet, but Lebanese President Michel Suleiman says they don’t have any indication that there was foul play. Ethiopian Airlines said they had 14 people investigating the scene of the crash.
With the help of Cypriot, French, British and US rescue crews, 21 bodies had been found by the afternoon, and hopes of finding survivors were growing thin by nightfall. Tons of relatives gathered at Rafik al-Hariri hospital in Beirut, distraught and searching for news of their family as ambulances brought in bodies, many of which could be identified only by their DNA because of burns, according to officials. There were 54 Lebanese and 23 Ethiopian passengers on the flight bound for Addis Ababa.
Suleiman says that this is a major loss for the nation and noted that the passengers included men and women who were on their way to work abroad to earn a living and raise the banner of their homeland. Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced that the day would a day for mourning the crash victims and ordered all government departments to close. He also praised the Red Cross and security forces for their recovery efforts.
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