Passenger flight goes down in sea off Lebanon

NINETY PEOPLE are feared dead after an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft plunged into the sea in a raging storm yesterday off the coast of Lebanon.

Witnesses said they saw a “ball of flame” fall into the sea just off the coast of Naameh, a village about 12km (7½ miles) south of the capital.

Flight ET409 disappeared off the radar five minutes after take-off from Beirut at about 2.30am (12.30 GMT).

By nightfall, rescuers had pulled only bodies from the rough Mediterranean, and hopes of finding survivors were fading.

Scores of distraught relatives gathered at Beirut’s Rafik al-Hariri hospital, clamouring for news of their loved ones as ambulances brought in the victims. Many bodies could be identified only by their DNA, officials said, as some were burned.

By mid-evening, only 14 bodies had arrived at the hospital and just two had been named.

Fifty-four Lebanese were on board the Boeing 737-800 bound for Addis Ababa and 23 passengers were Ethiopian. Thousands of Ethiopians work in Lebanon, mainly as domestic help.

Among the others missing was the wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon, Marla Sanchez Pietton, the French embassy confirmed. Two of the Lebanese were reported also to have British passports.

One of those waiting outside the hospital for news was Jaafar al-Lakkis, whose father Fouad caught the flight en route to his home in Angola after a business trip to his native Lebanon.

“I have no hope he survived,” he said, fighting back tears.

“He delayed his trip four times and ended up on this plane at the last minute. It must have been his destiny.”

Lebanon declared a day of mourning for what President Michel Suleiman called a “national tragedy”.

Health minister Mohammad Khalifeh said it was unlikely that anyone had survived the disaster and that many victims were believed to be still strapped to their seats in the wreckage.

Rescuers also found many body parts, an army source said, adding that the wreckage was at a depth of about 100m.

The aircraft broke into at least four pieces and burst into flames before plummeting into the sea, a defence ministry source said.

Storms have battered Lebanon for the past couple of days and the aircraft went down in driving rain as thunderclaps filled the night sky. “Bad weather was apparently the cause of the crash,” defence minister Elias el-Murr said. “We have ruled out foul play so far.”

Rescue workers have not yet retrieved the “black box” flight recorder. Lebanon has launched an investigation with the help of French experts.

At the site where the aircraft fell, 3.5km off the coast, Lebanese naval vessels and a German Unifil vessel searched the waves during the day, while helicopters buzzed in the steel-grey sky. The search went on as darkness fell.

A US vessel with the advanced P3 rescue aircraft on board arrived in Lebanon yesterday evening, and France and Britain sent helicopters to help the Lebanese army and navy in the search, as did the Unifil peacekeeping force based in southern Lebanon.

Debris, aircraft seats and luggage washed up on the shore south of Beirut.

Ethiopian Airlines has a relatively strong safety record, with only two crashes in the last 40 years, one of which followed a hijacking.

So too does the Boeing 737-800, a stalwart of short- to medium-haul aviation.

The airline’s chief executive, Girma Wake, defended the crew’s decision to take off during the storm.

“There was bad weather,” Mr Wake said.

“But, from what I see, probably it was manageable weather, otherwise the crew would not have taken off.”