• Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder from the crash site estimated to be the size of a football pitch.
• Transport CS James Macharia said the government would fly the crash victims next of kin to Ethiopia to help in the process of identifying the bodies.
Image: COURTESY
Transport Principal Secretary Esther Koimett is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to lead Kenya's efforts to recover, identify and bring home the remains of 32 Kenyans killed in a plane crash on Sunday.
She will join Kenya's ambassador to Ethiopia Catherine Mwangi in high-level inter-governmental meetings to facilitate a team of experts and relatives who will travel to Addis to help with the exercise expected to take days.
“We are going to set up a desk inside the airport, specifically to receive Kenyan families who will be coming to Addis. We are at hand as a Mission to support and assist families in whichever way we can, to process any document or any government requirement. We have shut down every other activity at the Embassy, we are going to spend time dealing with families," Mwangi said yesterday.
Investigators yesterday recovered the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder from the crash site estimated to be the size of a football pitch. All 157 people on board died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash.
The airline said in a statement that the 'black boxes' will help unravel the circumstances under which Flight ET302 crashed about six minutes after take-off from Bole International Airport for Nairobi's JKIA.
Image: REUTERS
The Kenyan victims included prominent journalist Tony Ngare.
A list released by Ethiopian Airlines included passengers from Canada, China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Israel, India, and Somalia.
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia told journalists yesterday that the families of 25 of the 32 Kenyan passengers were contacted and officially briefed on the deaths.
He said the government would fly the crash victims next of kin to Ethiopia to help in the process of identifying the bodies.
“The transportation will be done in collaboration between the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments as well as Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines,” Macharia said at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi.
Investigators continued to dig through debris at the crash site, looking for material that would help in determining the cause of the crash.
UN mourns victims
A United Nations Environment Assembly (Unea) meeting in Nairobi opened yesterday on a sombre note, with respect for the estimated 19 crash victims from five UN affiliate agencies.
However, directors at the conference said the final numbers and details were yet to be released by Ethiopian Airlines.
"The UN suffered one of its biggest losses in years in the deadly crash,” Reuters quoted Michael Moller, director general of the UN European headquarters in Geneva, as saying.
Image: REUTERS
The airline’s first flight to Kenya since the crash landed at JKIA at about 10.30am yesterday.
A different model of plane was used. The investigation is likely to focus on whether the Ethiopian airliner came down in circumstances similar to those involving the crash of the same model Boeing 737 MAX 8 that killed 189 people in Indonesia on October 29 last year.
That airliner operated by Lion Air crashed 13 minutes after take-off from Jakarta, killing all on board.
Following the crash, a number of countries that operate the 737 MAX 8s grounded the planes to ascertain their safety.
Apart from Ethiopia, China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc and the Cayman Islands also ordered their airlines to temporarily ground all 737-MAX 8s that they operate. Calls were made for all airline operators to consider taking that decision as well.
"Although we are yet to know the cause of the crash, we decided to ground the particular fleet as an extra safety precaution," Ethiopian Airlines, which has four more 737-Max, said in a statement.
The airline further said that the experienced pilot had reported difficulties, asked to return to Addis Ababa and was given clearance to fly back.
Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said, "We can't also attribute the cause to anything because we'll have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation."
Planes grounded
China's aviation regulator grounded nearly 100 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, saying it would contact the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing before resuming operations.
Indonesia grounded its 11 planes from operating. The 737 Max 8 is the newest version of Boeing's Dreamliner and was growing in popularity since its roll-out about two years ago.
However, Fiji Airways, Fly Dubai, SouthWest Airlines, SpiceJet, Tui, Turkish Airlines, WestJet, and Brazi said they would not ground the planes "as they have confidence in their safety".
Chinese carriers suspend use of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft after crash
China’s aviation regulator on Monday grounded nearly 100 Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by its airlines, more than a quarter of the global fleet of the jets, after a deadly crash of one of the planes in Ethiopia.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said all Chinese airlines had to suspend their use of the 737 MAX 8 by 6 p.m. (1000 GMT).
The CAAC said it would notify airlines as to when they could resume flying the jets after contacting Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ensure flight safety.
South Africa's ComAir, which has ordered about eight airliners from Boeing, also indicated it would monitor investigations into the Ethiopian crash. It had received one MAX 8.
Boeing said in a press update that it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and was sending a team to provide technical assistance.
Preliminary findings have shown that B-737-Max 8 pilots appeared to struggle with an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling.
The anti-stall system, which is a new feature, was reported to have repeatedly forced the plane downwards as pilots tried to correct the 'anomaly'.
Leaders from across the globe mourned with Kenya after losing the highest number of people in the crash.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence to Ethiopian PM Ahmed Abiy and to President Kenyatta on behalf of Kenyans.
Xi said he was shocked to learn of the crash and pledged to support Ethiopia as it is recovering from the loss.
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 landed on Monday morning at Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta Airport, in the capital, Nairobi. It was the same number of the daily shuttle flight that crashed.