Ethiopian crash victims were aid workers, doctors, academics

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Sarah Auffret from the UK was identified as a victim of the doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight which crashed shortly after take off from Addis Ababa on Sunday Morning. (AP)
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Reverend Norman Tendis a long-time pastor in the protestant congregation of St. Ruprecht in Villach, Austria who has been named among those aboard the doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, March 10, 2019. (AP)
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Karoline Aadland, a finance officer for The Red Cross of Norway, was also killed in the crash. (Red Cross of Norway via AP)
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Pius Adesanmi. Adesanmi, a Nigerian professor with Carleton University in Ottowa, Canada, was one of the victims. (AP)
Updated 11 March 2019
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Ethiopian crash victims were aid workers, doctors, academics

  • The victims included three Austrian physicians, the co-founder of an international aid organization, a career ambassador and the wife and children of a Slovak legislator

ADDIS ABABA: Three Austrian physicians. The co-founder of an international aid organization. A career ambassador. The wife and children of a Slovak legislator. A Nigerian-born Canadian college professor and satirist. They were among the 157 people from 35 countries who died Sunday morning when an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 jetliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi, Kenya. Here are some of their stories.
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Kenya: 32 victims
— Hussein Swaleh, the former secretary general of the Football Kenya Federation, was named as being among the dead by Sofapaka Football Club. He was returning home on the flight after working as the match commissioner in an African Champions League game in Egypt on Friday.
— Cedric Asiavugwa, who studied international business and economic law at Georgetown University in Washington, was on his way to Nairobi after the death of his fiancee's mother, the university said in a statement.
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Canada: 18 victims
— Pius Adesanmi, a Nigerian professor with Carleton University in Ottawa, was on his way to a meeting of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council in Nairobi, Nigeria's representative to the panel, John O. Oba, told The Associated Press.




Pius Adesanmi


Adesanmi is the author of "Naija No Dey Carry Last," a collection of satirical essays.
"Pius was a towering figure in African and post-colonial scholarship and his sudden loss is a tragedy," said Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Carleton's president and vice chancellor.
Adesanmi was the winner of the inaugural Penguin Prize for African non-fiction writing in 2010.
—Mohamed Hassan Ali confirmed that he had lost his sister and niece.
Ali said his sister, Amina Ibrahim Odowaa, 33, and her 5-year-old daughter, Sofia Faisal Abdulkadir, were on board the jet. He said his sister lived in Edmonton and was travelling to Kenya to visit with relatives.
— Derick Lwugi, an accountant with the City of Calgary, was also among the victims, his wife, Gladys Kivia, said. He leaves behind three children, aged 17, 19 and 20. Lwugi had been headed to Kenya to visit both of their parents.
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Ethiopia: 9 victims
— Catholic Relief Services said four of its Ethiopian staff members died. The aid group in a statement says Sara Chalachew, Getnet Alemayehu, Sintayehu Aymeku, and Mulusew Alemu had been traveling to Nairobi for training.
The four had worked with the organization for as long as a decade. They worked in procurement, logistics and finance.
— The aid group Save the Children said an Ethiopian colleague died in the crash.
Tamirat Mulu Demessie was a technical adviser on child protection in emergencies and "worked tirelessly to ensure that vulnerable children are safe during humanitarian crises," the group said in a statement.
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China: 8 victims
— A statement from the Chinese Embassy in Addis Ababa said the Chinese victims included five men and three women, including one person from the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said two United Nations workers were among the eight Chinese killed. Four were working for a Chinese company and two had travelled to Ethiopia for "private matters."
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Italy: 8 victims
— Paolo Dieci, one of the founders of the International Committee for the Development of Peoples, was among the dead, the group said on its website.
"The world of international cooperation has lost one of its most brilliant advocates and Italian civil society has lost a precious point of reference," wrote the group, which partners with UNICEF in northern Africa. UNICEF Italia sent a tweet of condolences over Dieci's death, noting that the group was a partner in Kenya, Libya and Algeria.
— Sebastiano Tusa, the Sicilian regional assessor to the Italian Culture Ministry, was en route to Nairobi when the plane crashed, according to Sicilian regional President Nello Musemeci. Tusa was also a noted underwater archaeologist.
— The World Food Program confirmed that two of the Italian victims worked for the Rome-based U.N. agency. A WFP spokeswoman identified the victims as Virginia Chimenti and Maria Pilar Buzzetti.
— Three other Italians worked for the Bergamo-based humanitarian agency, Africa Tremila: Carlo Spini, his wife, Gabriella Viggiani and the treasurer, Matteo Ravasio.
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United States: 8 victims
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France: 7 victims
— A group representing members of the African diaspora in Europe is mourning the loss of its co-chairperson and "foremost brother," Karim Saafi. The 38-year-old French-Tunisian was on an official mission representing the African Diaspora Youth Forum in Europe, the group announced on its Facebook page.
"Karim's smile, his charming and generous personality, eternal positivity, and his noble contribution to Youth employment, diaspora engagement and Africa's socio-economic development will never be forgotten," the post read. Saafi left behind a fiancee.
— Sarah Auffret, a French-British national living in Tromsoe, northern Norway, was on the plane, the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators said. Auffret, a staffer, was on the way to Nairobi to talk about a Cleans Seas project in connection with the U.N. Environment Assembly this week, the company said in a statement.
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Britain: 7 victims
— Joanna Toole, a 36-year-old from Exmouth, Devon, was heading to Nairobi to attend the United Nations Environment Assembly. Her father, Adrian, described her as a "very soft and loving" woman whose "work was not a job — it was her vocation."


He told the DevonLive website Toole used to keep homing pigeons and pet rats and traveled to the remote Faroe Islands to prevent whaling.
— Joseph Waithaka, 55, lived in Hull, England for a decade before moving back to his native Kenya, also died in the crash, his son told the Hull Daily Mail. Ben Kuria said his father had worked for the Probation Service, adding: "He helped so many people in Hull who had found themselves on the wrong side of the law."
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Egypt: 6 victims
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Germany: 5 victims
— The U.N. migration agency said that one of its staffers, German citizen Anne-Katrin Feigl, was en route to a training course in Nairobi.
— Rev. Norman Tendis was a long-time pastor in the protestant congregation of St. Ruprecht in Villach, Austria. The World Council of Churches said Monday that he was traveling to a U.N. environment summit in Nairobi. The 51-year-old is survived by his wife and three children.

 




Reverend Norman Tendis. (AP)


— The German development aid organization GIZ said one of its staff was also on the plane. GIZ spokeswoman Tanja Stumpff said the woman was on a business trip. She declined to provide further details, citing privacy reasons.
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India: 4 victims
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Slovakia: 4 victims
— A lawmaker of the Slovak Parliament said his wife, daughter and son were killed in the crash. Anton Hrnko, a legislator for the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party, said he was "in deep grief" over the deaths of his wife, Blanka; son, Martin; and daughter, Michala. Their ages weren't immediately available.
Martin Hrnko worked for the Bubo travel agency and was traveling on vacation to Kenya, the agency said.
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Sweden: 4 victims
— Hospitality company Tamarind Group announced "with immense shock and grief" that its chief executive Jonathan Seex was among the fatalities.
— The Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders, an international human rights group, said employee Josefin Ekermann, 30, was on board the plane. Ekermann, who worked to support human rights defenders, was on her way to meet Kenyan partner organizations. The group's executive director, Anders L. Pettersson, says "Josefin was a highly appreciated and respected colleague."
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Austria: 3 victims
—Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Guschelbauer confirmed that three Austrian doctors in their early 30s were on board the flight. The men were on their way to Zanzibar, he said, but he could not confirm the purpose of their trip.
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Russia: 3 victims
—The Russian Embassy in Ethiopia said airline authorities had identified its deceased citizens as Yekaterina Polyakova, Alexander Polyakov and Sergei Vyalikov.
Russian news reports identified Polyakova and Polyakov as a married couple. State news agency RIA-Novosibirsk said the three were visiting Africa as tourists.
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Israel: 2 victims
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Morocco: 2 victims
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Poland: 2 victims
— Poland's Foreign Ministry says two victims were men and not related to each other. The ministry does not plan to say more about them, citing the need to respect privacy and the interest of the men's families.
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Spain: 2 victims
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Belgium: 1 victim
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Djibouti: 1 victim
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Indonesia: 1 victim
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Ireland: 1 victim
— Irishman Michael Ryan was among seven people from the United Nations' World Food Program who were killed.

The Rome-based aid worker and engineer known as Mick was thought to be married with two children. His work projects included creating safe conditions for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and assessing the damage to rural roads in Nepal that were blocked by landslides.
His mother, Christine Ryan, told broadcaster RTE "he never wanted a 9 to 5 job. He put everything into his work."
Irish premier Leo Varadkar said: "Michael was doing life-changing work in Africa with the World Food Program."
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Mozambique: 1 victim
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Nepal: 1 victim
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Nigeria: 1 victim
—The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it received the news of retired Ambassador Abiodun Oluremi Bashu's death "with great shock."
Bashu was born in Ibadan in 1951 and joined the Nigerian Foreign Service in 1976. He had served in different capacities both at headquarters and abroad, including in Austria, Ivory Coast and Tehran, Iran. He also served as secretary to the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
At the time of his death, Bashu was on contract with the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa.
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Norway: 1 victim
—The Red Cross of Norway confirmed that Karoline Aadland, a finance officer, was on the flight. Aadland, 28, was originally from Bergen, Norway. The Red Cross said she was traveling to Nairobi for a meeting.
Aadland's Linkedin page says she had done humanitarian and environmental work. It says her work and studies had taken her to France, Kenya, South Africa and Malawi.




Karoline Aadland


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Rwanda: 1 victim
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Saudi Arabia: 1 victim
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Serbia: 1 victim
Serbia's Foreign Ministry confirmed that a citizen of Serbia was on the plane and gave no details. Serbian media identified him as Djordje Vdovic, 54. The Vecernje Novosti newspaper reported Vdovic worked for the U.N. World Food Program.
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Somalia: 1 victim
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Sudan: 1 victim
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Togo: 1 victim
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Uganda: 1 victim
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Yemen: 1 victim
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U.N. passport: 1 victim
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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.