Relatives bid farewell to Ethiopian plane crash victims

3/18/2019 - 5:21:10 PM

Relatives of victims who perished in an Ethiopian Airlines crash gathered in the Ethiopian capital on Sunday (March 17) to mourn their loved ones, one week after a Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 Max 8 went down just minutes after take-off.

A woman lights a candle during a memorial ceremony for Ethiopian Airline's seven crew members who died in the crash.

Flight ET 302 crashed near Bishoftu town, about 45 km from Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport, killing all 157 people aboard.

The memorial service included two parts, first at the headquarters of the Ethiopian Airlines Group and the second at the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Senior Ethiopian government officials and relatives of the perished crew members were also in attendence.

Thousands of others also gathered at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, where relatives attended funeral services in accordance with Ethiopian Orthodox church traditions.

The memorial event came amid difficulties to provide victims' bodies to their loved ones due to the devastating nature of the crash.

"We only have very small fragmented human tissues, human remains. That is the most difficult part of this tragic accident," Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Grieving family members were given bags of soil taken from the crash site.

The Ethiopian Federal Police is now taking full control of the human remains recovered from the crash site and Blake Emergency Services, a British-based organization, has been assigned to help with the DNA identification process, Gebremariam said.

"It's going to take a very long period of time," he said.

Both data and voice recorders from the crashed aircraft have been sent to France for further investigation into what caused the tragedy.

Source: NDO

Removing “bottlenecks” in global problems

The Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies (G20) recently held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil emphasised the need to reform global governance institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council. The meeting is also an opportunity for G20 to find solutions to a series of hot issues facing the world, such as poverty, climate change, and conflict.

ASEAN FMs issue statement on maintaining, promoting stability in maritime sphere in Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers on December 30 issued a statement on maintaining and promoting stability in the maritime sphere in Southeast Asia.

Optimistic signals of the world economy

The world economy has overcome a challenging year, but has proven more resilient than expected. The Financial Times (UK) commented that 2023 was a positive year for the world economy as the economic surprise index collated by Citigroup shew that actual data have underwhelmed economists’ predictions for much of the past months. These economic trends are the basis for optimism about the world economy in 2024.