It has been revealed that there were at least 19 officials from The United Nations on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed Sunday morning (some of whom were en route to a major environmental conference in Nairobi, Kenya).
No one on board survived.
“The World Food Program, the UN Refugee Agency and the Food and Agriculture Organization were among UN agencies reporting personnel losses. The casualty list also included a professor, the CEO of a restaurant company and a Kenyan soccer official.
French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are among those expected to attend the UN Environment Assembly, set to begin Monday, along with more than 4,700 heads of state, ministers and executives. Outcomes from the meeting are to set the global environmental agenda and boost chances of success in the Paris Agreement and 2030 Agenda, according to a UN press release.”1
Shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, the Boeing 737 Max jet crashed. This is the second deadly accident, in five months, for the new version of the company’s best-selling aircraft.1
There were 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians and at least eight Americans on the flight. As well as a “regional assessor to the Italian Culture Ministry; the wife, son and daughter of a lawmaker from Slovakia; and a residential minister at Georgetown University.”1 We do not have a full list of the rest of the passengers. Our hearts go out to their families.
Devastating news from Ethiopia this morning. Our thoughts are with all the victims on flight ET302, including the Canadians who were on board, and everyone who lost friends, family, or loved ones. Canadians in need of assistance, contact sos@international.gc.ca or 613-996-8885.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 10, 2019
The tragedy has sparked a wave of 737 groundings; China grounded the country’s entire fleet, Cayman Airways and Ethiopian Airlines suspended their operations of all of Max 8 aircraft, and there have been calls in the U.S. to ground the Max 8, as well.
SOURCE:
