Organizations lose 46 staff in Ethiopian Airlines jet crash

The United Nations and other humanitarian and environmental organizations mourned the loss of 46 staff in a crash of an Ethio­pian Airlines jetliner bound from Addis Ababa for Nairobi that killed all 157 people aboard.

The 46 staff worked for 28 U.N. agencies and other international organizations including a fair number who were headed to Kenya to attend the U.N. Environment Assembly, according to figures compiled by Arete News.

The United Nations reported losing 21 staff who worked for its affiliated agencies; other international organizations reported losing 25 staff.

“A global tragedy has hit close to home and the United Nations is united in grief,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

“Our colleagues were women and men, junior professionals and seasoned officials, hailing from all corners of the globe and with a wide range of expertise,” he said. "They all had one thing in common. A spirit to serve the people of the world and make it a better place overall.”

The U.N.'s World Food Program, or WFP, lost seven staff, the most of any single organization. A non-U.N. organization, Catholic Relief Services, lost four. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, and U.N. Office in Nairobi, or UNON, each lost three staff, the U.N. reported on a memorial page.

WFP's Executive Director David Beasley told CNN's Christiane Amanpour it was a heartbreaking loss.

"You know, we lose people out in the field, on the battlefields, natural disasters, almost every single day but we don't expect something like this. And in the U.N. system we've lost over 20 people. At the World Food Program, we lost seven. It's just devastating," he said. "This hits home in a way that you just can't imagine, when seven of your friends, your brothers, your sisters, your colleagues, go down in a crash like this."

28 international organizations / 46 staff lost (Last update: 09:00 GMT 27 April 2019)

1. African Diaspora Youth Forum in Europe—Karim Saafi, 38, of France/Tunisia
2. Africa Tremila—Carlo Spini, 75; Gabriella Vigiani, 74; and Matteo Ravasio, 50; all of Italy
3. African Union—Susan Abu Faraj and Asmat Arnasa, both of Egypt
4. African Union Mission in Somalia—Christine Alalo, 49, of Uganda
5. Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators—Sarah Auffret, 29, of France/U.K.
6. CARE—Immaculate Achieng Odero of Kenya
7. Catholic Relief Services—Sara Chalachew; Getnet Alemayehu; Sintayehu Aymeku; and Mulusew Alemu; all of Ethiopia
8. Civil Rights Defenders—Josefin Ekermann, 30, of Sweden
9. Computer Aid International—Anne Musyoki-Munyao of Kenya
10. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit—1 female staff
11. Food and Agriculture Organization—Joanna Toole, 36, of U.K.
12. International Committee for the Development of Peoples—Paolo Dieci, 58, of Italy
13. International Telecommunications Union—Maygenet Worku Abebe of Ethiopia; Marcelino Tayob of Mozambique
14. Norwegian Red Cross—Karoline Aadland, 28, of Norway
15. Norwegian Refugee Council—Clémence Boutant-Willm, 44, of France; Sam Pegram, 25, of U.K.
16. Ocean Wise—Danielle Moore, 24, of Canada
17. Save the Children—Tamirat Mulu Demessie, 48, of Ethiopia
18. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency—Alexandra Wachtmeister, 50, of Sweden
19. U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia—Oliver Vick, 45, of U.K.
20. U.N. Development Program—Shikha Garg, 32, of India
21. U.N. Environment Program—Victor Shing Ngai Tsang, 37, of China
22. U.N. Economic Commission of Africa—Abiodun Oluremi Bashua, 68, of Nigeria
23. U.N. Migration—Anne-Katrin Feigl, 29, of Germany
24. U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Refugees—Nadia Adam Abaker Ali, 40, of Sudan; Jessica Hyba, 43, of Canada; Jackson Musoni, 32, of Rwanda
25. U.N. Office in Nairobi—Susan Mohamed Abufarag of Egypt; Graziella de Luis Ponce, 63, of Mexico; Esmat Adelsattar Taha Orensa of Egypt
26. World Bank—Max Thabiso Edkins, 35, of Germany/South Africa
27. World Council of Churches—Rev. Norman Tendis, 51, of Germany
28. World Food Program—Ekata Adhikari, 28, of Nepal; Maria Pilar Buzzetti, 30, of Italy; Virginia Chimenti, 26, of Italy; Harina Hafitz, 59, of Indonesia; Zhen-Zhen Huang, 46, of China; Michael Eoghan Ryan, 39, of Ireland; Djordje Vdovic, 53, of Serbia

35 nations, a world of connections

The crash killed 32 Kenyans and 18 Canadians. Nine Ethiopians died and eight each from China, Italy and the United States were killed. Seven people each were killed from France and Britain, and six from Egypt and five from Germany died, the airline reported. The victims came from 35 countries overall.

Preliminary data from the almost brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 showed an erratic flight path. The pilot reported difficulty and wanted to return to Addis Ababa. The plane, which was only four months old, crashed minutes after takeoff.

Red Cross workers and forensic experts searched through debris at the crash site near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 60 kilometers from the Ethiopian capital, looking for remains, belongings and evidence.

The single-aisle plane was the same model as the Lion Air jet that crashed into the sea off Jakarta, Indonesia carrying 189 people aboard last October, raising safety questions about the world’s most popular commercial airliner. Investigators in the Indonesian crash were examining whether a sensor and computer forced the plane’s nose down.

The United Nations flew the U.N. flag at half-mast and held some moments of silence around the world to mark the tragedy. Ethiopia observed a day of national mourning. Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which lost two staff in the crash, mourned the loss of humanitarian co-workers.

"We are a family of humanitarians that have no one to lose," said Egeland, who formerly headed the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "We must now hold together and do all we can to support the families and the teams who lost their nearest and dearest."

The Addis Ababa-Nairobi shuttle

The flight itself — a well-traveled route between Ethiopia's capital, home to the African Union, U.N. Economic Commission for Africa and a cluster of other international organizations, and Kenya's capital, another major U.N. hub that is headquarters to U.N. Environment and U.N. Habitat — is so often flown by international staff, that it is sometimes referred to colloquially as the U.N. shuttle.

Some passengers were flying to Nairobi to attend the next-day opening of the U.N. Environment Assembly, which was created in 2012 to serve as the world’s highest-level environmental decision-making body.

"The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 was a terrible loss for the United Nations, for our member states and for the environmental community," said Joyce Msuya, U.N. Environment's acting executive director.

"The environmental community is in mourning today," she said. "Many of those that lost their lives were en-route to provide support and participate in the U.N. Environment Assembly. We lost U.N. staff, youth delegates traveling to the assembly, seasoned scientists, members of academia and other partners."

Humanitarian aid and a host of other causes

Other humanitarian aid organizations, such as U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services, also lost several employees. Carlo Spino, president of Africa Tremila, an Italian humanitarian aid organization, died in the crash, as did his wife, Gabriella Vigiani, and Matteo Ravasio, the organization’s treasurer.

The International Committee for the Development of Peoples, or CISP, said one of its founders, Paolo Dieci, died in the crash. The Italian aid group partners with UNICEF in Kenya, Libya and Algeria.

"The world of international cooperation has lost one of its most brilliant advocates and Italian civil society has lost a precious point of reference," CISP said in a statement.

A well-known Italian archaeologist, Sebastiano Tusa, was aboard the plane headed to Nairobi, planning to take part in a UNESCO-sponsored project, according to the Italian government. Like so many of the victims, he was remembered as a special person who worked in exotic locales and was highly motivated to make the world a better place.

"He exuded life and every discovery thrilled him," said a friend and colleague, Peter Campbell, an underwater archaeologist. "He was headed to a maritime arch conference in Nairobi."