THE Ethiopian Airlines crash bares “clear similarities” to the earlier Lion Air Boeing 737 Max disaster, black box data suggests, as families bury empty coffins in place of loved ones.
In heart-breaking scenes a mass funeral was conducted in the capital Addis Ababa, where 17 empty coffins were buried while thousands of mourners watched on.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 – bound for Nairobi in Kenya – crashed shortly after taking off, killing all 157 people on board on March 10.
Relatives told news wires prior to the mass funeral that they were given small sacks of scorched earth from the site of the crash in place of remains.
Flight data from the Ethiopian Airlines disaster suggests “clear similarities” with a crash off Indonesia last October also involving a Max 8 plane, Ethiopia’s transport minister has said.
Minister Dagmawit Moges cited preliminary data retrieved from the flight data recorder, or black box.
He said his government plans to release detailed findings of the doomed Flight ET302 within a month, according to Sky News.
We will not rest until we are given the real body or body parts of our loved ones.
Crash victim relative
Both jets flew with erratic altitude, indicating the pilots struggled to bring the aircraft under control, and in both instances problems occurred almost immediately after take-off.
Preliminary findings suggest the stabiliser of the Ethiopian plane may have been in a position to point the nose of the craft down.
None of the bodies have been identified as of yet, due largely to the force of the impact of the jet.
One family member told the Associated Press: “We will not rest until we are given the real body or body parts of our loved ones.”
Relatives have been urged to supply DNA samples to help with the identification, which they have been warned could take six months.
Airlines around the world have now grounded the Max 8 following the second crash on March 10.
Boeing said in a statement that it continues to have “full confidence” in the plane’s safety, but that it was recommending temporarily suspending operations of the entire global fleet of the 737 Max aircraft, totaling 371 planes.
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