Ethiopian Airlines plane crash: 8 Chinese among 157 victims

An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Ethiopia's capital on March 10, killing all 157 on board, authorities said, as grieving families rushed to airports in Addis Ababa and the destination, Nairobi. Eight Chinese citizens, five males and three females, are among the dead.

The identities of the eight Chinese citizens have been confirmed. 

Four of them are employees of Chinese companies, two work for the United Nations and the other two come from northeast China’s Liaoning and east China’s Zhejiang provinces.

They are:

Jin Yetao: the deputy chief of No.4 project department of AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd.)-INTL Project Engineering Company. Born in 1986, the energetic young man liked playing basketball after work. This time, he had planned to offer African youth vocational training courses. 

Zhou Yuan: an employee of CETC (China Electronics Technology Corporation) International Co. Ltd. Born in 1981, the devoted employee has been working for the company since 2004. With great passion, the late deputy general manager of the African region had been engaged in exploring the African market. At 07:48 March 10, about one hour before the crash, he sent the last message in his life, which says to his colleague that ” I am on the plane. See you in the airport.”

Wang Hao: an employee of China Aviation Supplies Holding Company and also a father of a toddler. 

Gao Shuang: an accountant of Kailan Aviation Technology Co. Ltd under China Aviation Supplies Holding Company. 

Victor Tsang：the policy officer on Sustainable Development in the Kenya Office at UN Environment. A native of Hong Kong chose to join in a non-profit organization instead of well-paid companies after graduating from business administration department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one of the world’s most prestigious universities, in 2004. Three years later, he came to the poverty-stricken Baihe County, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, alone, helping villagers get rid of poverty by growing mushrooms. In 2001, he joined the World Food Programme as an intern and went on to join the UN Environment Program in 2015, working as a Program Officer in the Gender and Safeguards Unit. 

Huang Zhenzhen: an employee of UN Food Programme. A good colleague, mother and wife, the 46-year-old woman joined the UN Food Programme in 2004. Like Victor, she also headed to Nairobi for the UN Environment Assembly that convened on March 11.

Chen Lu is a senior student of media department of Zhejiang Wanli University in Ningbo City. She took the trip for seeing giraffes on the African continent, a special graduation gift sent by her boyfriend. Born in 1997, the good-looking young woman will celebrate her 22-year-old birthday in May. 

Wang Ming, born in 1972, is a legal representative of a commercial and trade company in Liaoning’s Benxi city. The successful merchant had a happy family who now live in Canada. 

After the accident, Chinese leaders have extended condolences to victims' families and were deeply concerned with the situation of Chinese citizens involved.

The Chinese embassy in Ethiopia has also established a coordination and liaison mechanism with the Ethiopian side and got into contact with the relatives of the Chinese citizens who died in the accident, said Lu Kang, the spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry told at a news briefing in Beijing on March 11.

"China hopes that the Ethiopia side can find out the cause of the accident as soon as possible and inform China of the investigation development in a timely manner, and appropriately handle the follow-up matters," he said.

Cao Ran, a Chinese national, however, is a lucky dog who narrowly escaped from death. Having been running an insurance brokerage business in Nairobi for the past ten months, she said she had changed her mind at the last minute and instead took a flight back on Friday. 

"Just a coincidence," said the owner of Jiang Tai Insurance Brokers.

The Addis Ababa-Nairobi route links East Africa's two largest economic powers and is popular with tourists making their way to safari and other destinations. Sunburned travelers and tour groups crowd the Addis Ababa airport's waiting areas, along with businessmen from China and elsewhere.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)