UN mourns deaths of its staff members killed in Ethiopia air crash

UNITED NATIONS, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly and the Security CoUNcil on Monday separately observed a minute of silence for the UN Staff members who lost their lives in SUNday's air crash in Ethiopia.

At the beginning of a Commission on the Status of Women meeting at the General Assembly, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a brief statement to mourn the deaths of the UN Staff members before delegates observed a minute of silence.

Guterres said at least 21 UN Staff members were killed in SUNday's crash. An UNdetermined number of other victims were working "close to" the UNited Nations.

The UN Security CoUNcil, at the beginning of its first meeting since the crash, also observed a minute of silence for the victims.

Flags at UN Headquarters in New York as well as other agencies across the world are flying in half Staff on Monday in memory of the dead.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed six minutes after takeoff from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi, Kenya. The route was frequented by UN Staff. The World Food Programme, a UN agency, lost seven of its Staff members in the crash that killed all 157 people aboard.