French president mourns victims of Ethiopian Airlines crash

NAIROBI, March 14 (Xinhua) -- French president Emmanuel Macron led international dignitaries to a moment of silence on Thursday to mourn the 157 people who died when an Ethiopian AIRLINES flight ET 302 plane crashed on Sunday after take-off.

Macron regretted the death of people from different nations and several UN staff members.

The Ethiopian AIRLINES Boeing 737 Max 8 plane was on scheduled flight to Nairobi from Addis Ababa, with several passengers destined for the UN Environment Assembly meeting in Nairobi, which opened on Monday.

The dignitaries present, including Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi, president of Madagascar Andry Rajoelina, and president of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, stood to observe a minute of silence in honour of the victims of the crash.

The French president was presiding over the opening ceremony of the One Planet Summit which has gathered international dignitaries to discuss ways and means of handling threats to the global environment.