Ethiopian airliner crashes into Mediterranean Sea

Monday, January 25, 2010

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, scheduled to fly from Beirut, Lebanon, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after taking off Monday morning. Ethiopian Airlines report 83 people on board.

Flight ET409, a Boeing 737, was set to leave at 2:10 am local time, but was delayed until 2:35. The passenger plane took off in stormy conditions, and it disappeared from radar five minutes later.

Eyewitnesses reported a ball of fire as the plane went down. Debris has already been seen off the Lebanese coast.

Rescue efforts are underway amid continuing heavy rains. However, it is unknown if there are any survivors. Among the passengers are 23 Ethiopian, 51 Lebanese, 1 Turkish, 1 French, 2 British, 1 Russian, 1 Canadian, 1 Syrian, 1 Iraqi nationals. The French embassy also stated that the wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon was on board.

Lebanon's Transport Minister Ghazi al-Aridi said that the crash site "has been identified three-and-a-half km west of the village of Na'ameh".

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Sources

"Ethiopian Airlines jet crashes into sea off Beirut" — BBC News Online, January 25, 2010
"Ethiopian jet crashes off Beirut" — Al Jazeera, January 25, 2010
Nadim Ladki and Robin Pomeroy. "Lebanon says Ethiopian plane crash site located" — Thomson Reuters, January 25, 2010
Derrick Henry and Michelle Maynard. "Robin Pomeroy" — The New York Times, January 25, 2010
Ethiopian airlines. "Ethiopian airlines press release" — Ethiopian airlines, January 25, 2010
Thomson Reuters. "French ambassador's wife on crashed Ethiopian plane" — Thomson Reuters, January 25, 2010

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