BEIRUT: An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people caught fire and crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Beirut early Monday. At least 34 bodies were recovered.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Lebanon has seen stormy weather since Sunday night, with crackling thunder, lightning and rain.
The Lebanese Army said the plane had broken up in the air before plummeting into rough seas and hopes of finding any survivors faded 17 hours after the crash. Witnesses described the impact as a “flash that lit up the whole sea” and a “ball of fire.”
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said he did not think the plane had been brought down deliberately, emphasizing “a sabotage attack is unlikely.” Weeping relatives streamed into Beirut’s airport to wait for news on their loved ones. One woman dropped to her knees in tears; another cried out, “Where is my son?”
Andree Qusayfi said his 35-year-old brother, Ziad, was traveling to Ethiopia for his job at a computer company, but was planning to return to Lebanon for good soon. “We begged him to postpone his flight because of the storm,” Qusayfi said, his eyes red from crying. “But he insisted on going because he had work appointments.”
Zeinab Seklawi said her 24-year-old son Yasser called her as he was boarding. “I told him, ‘God be with you,’ and I went to sleep,” Seklawi said. “Please find my son. I know he’s alive and wouldn’t leave me.”
The Boeing 737-800 took off around 2:30 a.m. and went down 3.5 km off the coast, said Ghazi Aridi, public works and transportation minister. “The weather undoubtedly was very bad,” Aridi told reporters at the airport.
The plane was carrying 83 passengers and 7 crew. Aridi identified the passengers as 54 Lebanese, 22 Ethiopians, one Iraqi, one Syrian, one Canadian of Lebanese origin, one Russian of Lebanese origin, a French woman and two Britons of Lebanese origin. The wife of Denis Pietton, the French ambassador to Lebanon, was on the plane, according to the French Embassy.
