Black boxes of crashed Ethiopian Airlines recovered

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A man carries a piece of debris on his head at the crash site of a Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines flight. (AFP)
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Rescue team collect bodies in bags at the crash site of Ethiopia Airlines near Bishoftu. (AFP)
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People walk at the scene of the Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu. (Reuters)
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Family members of the victims involved in a plane crash react at Addis Ababa international airport. (AP)
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A woman reacts as she waits for the updated flight information of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. (Reuters)
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A flight information board Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi displays the details of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302. (Reuters)
Updated 12 March 2019
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Black boxes of crashed Ethiopian Airlines recovered

  • The Boeing 737-8 MAX plane was flying to Nairobi when it crashed shortly after take off
  • At least 33 nationalities among the dead including one Saudi and six Egyptians

ADDIS ABABA/SINGAPORE/BEIJING: The cockpit voice recorder and the digital flight data recorder from the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed on Sunday have both been recovered from the crash site, the airline said in a statement.

Ethiopian Airlines earlier grounded its Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet until further notice, the airline said on its Twitter account on Monday, a day after a crash killed all 157 people on board one of its planes of the same type.

At least 35 nationalities were among the dead.

“Although we don’t yet know the cause of the crash, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as extra safety precaution,” the airline said.

Ethiopian Airlines has a fleet of four 737 MAX 8 jets, not counting the one that crashed on Sunday, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

China on Monday ordered its airlines to suspend operations of their 737 MAX 8 jets by 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) following the crash in Ethiopia, the second of a Boeing 737 MAX jet since one operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air crashed in October.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said the order was “taken in line with the management principle of zero tolerance for security risks.”

It was not clear what caused the Ethiopian Airlines plane to go down in clear weather. But the accident was strikingly similar to last year’s crash of a Lion Air jet that plunged into the Java Sea, killing 189 people. Both crashes involved the Boeing 737 Max 8, and both happened minutes after the jets became airborne.

The Ethiopian pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return to the airport, the airline’s CEO told reporters.

Worried families gathered at the flight’s destination, the airport in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya.

Agnes Muilu said he came to pick up his brother. “I just pray that he is safe or he was not on it,” he said.

Relatives were frustrated by the lack of information about loved ones.

“Why are they taking us round and round. It is all over the news that the plane crashed,” said Edwin Ong’undi, who was waiting for his sister. “All we are asking for is information to know about their fate.”

The accident is likely to renew questions about the 737 Max, the newest version of Boeing’s popular single-aisle airliner.

Indonesian investigators have not determined a cause for the October crash, but days after the accident Boeing sent a notice to airlines that faulty information from a sensor could cause the plane to automatically point the nose down. The notice reminded pilots of the procedure for handling such a situation.

The Lion Air cockpit data recorder showed that the jet’s airspeed indicator had malfunctioned on its last four flights, though the airline initially said problems with the aircraft had been fixed before it left the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

Safety experts cautioned against drawing too many comparisons between the two crashes until more is known about Sunday’s disaster.

The Ethiopian Airlines CEO “stated there were no defects prior to the flight, so it is hard to see any parallels with the Lion Air crash yet,” said Harro Ranter, founder of the Aviation Safety Network, which compiles information about accidents worldwide.

As sunset approached at the crash site, searchers could be seen walking through the wreckage of the plane, which shattered into small pieces. A bulldozer was nearby.

Photos from the scene showed multicolored pieces of the jet strewn across freshly churned earth. Red Cross teams and others were searching a large area for human remains. In one photo, teams could be seen loading black plastic bags into trucks.

Watch the flight route of ET 302

The airline published a photo showing its CEO standing in the wreckage.

The Ethiopian plane was new, having been delivered to the airline in November.

State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is widely considered the best-managed airline in Africa and calls itself Africa’s largest carrier. It has ambitions of becoming the gateway to the continent and is known as an early buyer of new aircraft.

“Ethiopian Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world. At this stage we cannot rule out anything,” CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said.

The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were thought to be on the plane.

Ethiopian Airlines issued a list showing 35 nationalities among the dead, including 32 Kenyans and 18 Canadians. The list reflected a broad range of backgrounds, with passengers from China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Israel, India and Somalia. Several countries lost more than five citizens.

Some of those aboard were thought to be traveling to a major United Nations environmental meeting scheduled to start Monday in Nairobi.

The plane crashed six minutes after departing, plowing into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Addis Ababa, at 8:44 a.m.

The jetliner showed unstable vertical speed after takeoff, air traffic monitor Flightradar 24 said in a Twitter post.

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

The jet’s last maintenance was on Feb. 4, and it had flown just 1,200 hours. The pilot was a senior aviator, joining the airline in 2010, the CEO said.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 was one of 30 being delivered to the airline, Boeing said in a statement in July when the first was delivered.

Boeing said a technical team was ready to provide assistance at the request of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

The last deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger flight was in 2010, when a plane went down minutes after takeoff from Beirut, killing all 90 people on board.

African air travel, long troubled and chaotic, has improved in recent years, with the International Air Transport Association in November noting “two years free of any fatalities on any aircraft type.”

Sunday’s crash comes as Ethiopia’s reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has vowed to open up the airline and other sectors to foreign investment in a major transformation of the state-centered economy.

Ethiopian Airlines’ expansion has included the recent opening of a route to Moscow and the inauguration in January of a new passenger terminal in Addis Ababa to triple capacity.

Speaking at the inauguration, the prime minister challenged the airline to build a new “Airport City” terminal in Bishoftu — where Sunday’s crash occurred.


ICC’s decisions must be respected, EU’s Borrell says

Updated 21 sec ago
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ICC’s decisions must be respected, EU’s Borrell says

  • Josep Borrell: “They’re not political. It’s a legal body formed by respected people who are the best among the profession of judges.”

BRUSSEL: Outgoing EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called on all EU member states to respect decisions by the International Criminal Court, including the arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We cannot undermine the International Criminal Court. It is the only way of having global justice,” Borrell, whose term as the EU’s top diplomat ends this month, said in Brussels.
“They’re not political. It’s a legal body formed by respected people who are the best among the profession of judges.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants last week for Netanyahu, his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas leader for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
Though all EU member states are signatories to the ICC’s founding treaty, France said on Wednesday it believed Netanyahu had immunity to actions by the ICC, given Israel has not signed up to the court statutes.
Italy has said it is not feasible to arrest Netanyahu as long as he remains head of Israel’s government.
ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.”
Israel, which launched its offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, has said it will appeal against the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Asked if France would arrest Netanyahu if he stepped on French territory, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot did not give a specific answer in an interview with Franceinfo radio.
He said France “is very committed to international justice and will apply international law based on its obligations to cooperate with the ICC.”
But he added that the court’s statute “deals with questions of immunity for certain leaders.”
“It is ultimately up to the judicial authorities to decide,” he added.
Unconfirmed media reports have said that Netanyahu angrily raised the issue in telephone talks with President Emmanuel Macron and urged Paris not to enforce the decision. France has been instrumental in efforts to end fighting in the Middle East and, with the US helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Article 27 of the Rome Statute — the foundation of the ICC — states that immunity “shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.”
However, Article 98 says a state cannot “act inconsistently with its obligations under international law concerning the ... diplomatic immunity of a person.”
France’s stance on potential immunity for Netanyahu prompted some strong reactions at home and abroad. Amnesty International called the French stance “deeply problematic,” saying it ran counter to the government’s obligations as an ICC member.
“Rather than inferring that ICC indictees may enjoy immunity, France should expressly confirm its acceptance of the unequivocal legal duty under the Rome Statute to carry out arrest warrants,” said Anne Savinel Barras, president of Amnesty International France.
French Green party boss Marine Tondelier, calling the government’s stance “shameful,” said it was probably the result of an agreement between the French and Israeli leaders.


Somali leaders face reciprocal arrest warrants over disputed regional election

Updated 7 min 42 sec ago
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Somali leaders face reciprocal arrest warrants over disputed regional election

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s federal government and the country’s Jubbaland region have issued reciprocal arrest warrants for their respective leaders in an escalating dispute over the conduct of elections in Jubbaland.
Jubbaland, which borders Kenya and Ethiopia and is one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states, reelected regional president Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe for a third term in elections on Monday.
However, the national government based in Mogadishu, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, opposed the election, saying it was held without federal involvement. Jubbaland’s Attorney General issued an arrest warrant for Mohamud late on Wednesday via the First Instance Court in Kismayo, accusing him of treason, inciting a civil war, and organizing an armed uprising to disrupt the constitutional order in the country.
It did not provide evidence supporting the accusations.
This warrant was in response to a similar one issued by a regional court in Mogadishu for Madobe’s arrest, which accused him of treason and revealing classified information to foreign entities.
The execution of these warrants remains uncertain, as Madobe and Mohamud command troops.
Somalia’s information minister, Daud Aweis, said that the matter was in the hands of the judiciary, which was tasked with enforcing laws through its rulings and judgments.
Jubbaland’s security minister, Yusuf Dhumal, did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this week, the national government dispatched additional troops to Jubbaland in response to the election.
In 2021, Jubbaland was among other regional governments that nearly clashed with the national government over plans to extend the time in office of the then-president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.


Children among four dead in Greece migrant shipwreck

Updated 23 min 56 sec ago
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Children among four dead in Greece migrant shipwreck

  • Greek Coast Guard launch search-and-rescue operation involving patrol vessels, lifeboats, and land teams

ATHENS: Four people, including two children, have died after a boat carrying migrants ran aground on a rocky shoreline on the eastern Greek island of Samos, officials said on Thursday.

Sixteen people were rescued, but how many were aboard the boat remained unclear.
The Greek Coast Guard launched a search-and-rescue operation involving patrol vessels, lifeboats, and land teams to locate any potential missing passengers.
A Greek government official said he expected the risk facing migrants to rise over the winter months and blamed conflicts in the Middle East for a swell in illegal crossings this year.
The incident comes after eight migrants — six children and two women — died in a shipwreck off the island on Monday.
Samos and other Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea are key transit points for migrants crossing from Turkiye to the EU, with arrivals in recent months that Greek authorities say are linked to ongoing wars in the Middle East and parts of Africa.
“The conditions are certainly not favorable,” Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos told private Skai television on Thursday.
“They do not tend toward reducing the flow of migrants, but rather increasing them — with all the geopolitical turmoil, especially in the Middle East, with ongoing wars and other issues,” he said.
Panagiotopoulos said he expected the risk of tragedies in the eastern Aegean to increase in the coming weeks as weather conditions worsen.
They added that Greece will renew efforts to seek EU funding for border wall construction under the Polish presidency of the EU, which starts on Jan. 1.
Separately on Thursday, police announced the arrest of nine people accused of operating a smuggling ring that allegedly provided migrants with false and illegally used documents to travel to western European cities.
The group, active since July, provided migrants with safe housing, clothing, and travel documents before escorting them to Athens International Airport, police said.
Fees for those services ranged from €3,000 to €5,000 ($3,150-5,250).
Italy’s interior minister last month said the Group of Seven rich democracies will to set up specialized police units aimed at investigating migrant trafficking in order to tackle irregular flows. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, which holds the G7
rotating presidency this year, has sought cooperation with the EU and African governments to crack down on human traffickers.
Meloni last year signed a deal with Albania to build reception camps there, but the rulings taken so far by the Italian courts have frustrated the government’s efforts to pursue its flagship plan to crackdown on irregular arrivals
Italian police said on Thursday they had blocked and revoked 3,339 applications for the arrival of non-EU workers in Italy as part of an investigation into the smuggling of illegal immigrants by organized crime.
The alleged false requests to hire non-EU laborers were submitted by 142 different Italian companies in the agriculture, construction, and home care sectors, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza police said in a joint statement.
According to an investigation by anti-Mafia prosecutors in the southern city of Salerno, the companies were being used by several local criminal
groups — from which €1 million ($1.05 million) in cash was already seized in July — to smuggle non-EU migrants
into Italy.
Police measures allow the 29 Italian provinces involved in the investigation to block issuing current permits and revoking those that had already been granted, the statement said.


Macron welcomes Nigerian president in first state visit since 2000

Updated 15 min 35 sec ago
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Macron welcomes Nigerian president in first state visit since 2000

  • Trip will focus on economic partnerships between France and Africa’s most populous country

PARIS: Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Thursday began a two-day visit to France, with both sides seeking increased economic cooperation and Paris looking to boost ties in English-speaking Africa following a series of setbacks with former allies on the continent.

French President Emmanuel Macron greeted his counterpart at the historic Invalides memorial complex, with the first official state visit by a Nigerian leader in more than two
decades.
The two national anthems rang out in the courtyard of one of Paris’ landmarks, kicking off a visit focused on encouraging economic partnerships between France and Africa’s most populous country.
Macron has sought a “renewal” between Paris and Africa since his 2017 election and after military coups and changing attitudes lessened France’s influence on the continent.
The trip is “an opportunity to deepen the already dynamic relationship between France and Nigeria,” Macron’s office said.
The west African country is the continent’s leading oil producer and has a robust film industry, dubbed “Nollywood.”
But challenges posed by insecurity and corruption have left 129 million Nigerians — more than half the country’s population — living
below the poverty line.
For Nigeria, which has been battling soaring inflation and food prices, the visit represents an opportunity to tap economic investment.
Nigeria was looking to build ties in “agriculture, security, education, health, youth engagement, innovation and energy transition,” Tinubu’s office said in a statement. He and Macron will also address “shared values concerning finance, solid minerals, trade and investment, and communication,” it added.


South Korea officials say three dead in heavy snowfall

Updated 33 min 43 sec ago
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South Korea officials say three dead in heavy snowfall

SEOUL: Heavy snowfall blanketed South Korea for a second consecutive day Thursday, resulting in three deaths overall and disrupting flights and ferry services, authorities said.
The snow caused three fatalities in Gyeonggi province around the capital Seoul, officials said, including one person killed when a tent-style garage collapsed during snow removal.
Another died when a golf practice net gave way amid the extreme weather.
The prolonged snowfall led to the cancellation of 156 flights and disrupted 104 ferry services across 79 routes, the interior ministry said.
The second day of snow came after Seoul on Wednesday recorded its heaviest November snowfall since records began over a century ago, according to the country’s weather agency. The record snowfall also marked the capital’s first snow of the season.
Up to 40 centimeters of snow accumulated in parts of the capital by 11 am (GMT 02:00), the interior ministry said, while other areas outside Seoul saw snow piles reaching nearly 45 centimeters.
The second day of snow prompted the city government to deploy 11,000 personnel and 20,000 pieces of equipment for snow removal operations in the capital.