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Roundup: World mourns victims of tragic Ethiopian jet crash as Ethiopia declares mourning day

America

2019-03-11 23:03

ADDIS ABABA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopians and the diplomatic community are mourning the death of 157 people aboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed minutes after takeoff on Sunday.

The Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives (HoPR), the Ethiopian parliament's lower house, has declared a National Morning Day on Monday.

All Ethiopian government branches and diplomatic missions across the East African country, including the African Union (AU) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), are also mourning the victims with flags at half mast.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, expressing his condolences to the families of passengers and crew members who were on board the ET 302 flight, assured them of investigations into the cause of the accident by technical experts.

Ahmed also stressed that the government "will promptly disclose updates on the deadly incident to the public."

Leaders and people around the globe - including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, have expressed their condolences as the shock plunged the world into grief.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "was deeply saddened at the tragic loss of lives in the airplane crash," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, on Sunday.

"He conveys his heartfelt sympathies and solidarity to the victims' families and loved ones ... as well as sincere condolences to the government and people of Ethiopia," Dujarric said.

The AU Commission chairperson also expressed his "utter shock and immense sadness" as he disclosed the AU's "full solidarity with the government and people of Ethiopia."

Meanwhile, Kenyan government has formed two emergency centers for those affected by the tragedy, as the East African country records the highest number of causalities from the tragic incident, in which 32 of the victims were Kenyans.

Kenya has also sent a team to Ethiopia to deal with the aftermath of the crash.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost 18 nationals from the plane crash, also in a statement on Sunday said that "I am deeply saddened by the terrible plane crash."

Trudeau further offered condolences to "those who have lost family, friends, and loved ones as a result of this tragedy."

Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Lu Kang also late Sunday extended profound condolences to the victims and deep sympathy to the bereaved families, and urged Ethiopian authorities to find out the cause of the crash.

The Ethiopian Airlines on Monday disclosed that both data and voice recorders on the crashed aircraft have been recovered.

"Ethiopian has continued monitoring the situation closely with all stakeholders and is providing all the necessary support to the families of the deceased in its temporarily established family assistance centers in Addis Ababa and Nairobi Airports," the airline said in statement.

Earlier on Monday, Ethiopian Airlines announced its decision to suspend commercial operations of all Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft.

The Nairobi-bound Boeing 737-8 MAX crashed Sunday near Bishoftu town, about 45 km from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, just minutes after takeoff from Bole International Airport, killing all 157 people on board.