Ethiopian Air crash

In the middle of the night last Monday night, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 took off from Beirut airport in a violent thunderstorm. Shortly after takeoff it burst into flames and plunged into the Mediterranean Sea, about two miles offshore. Ninety souls were on board; all perished.

It was likely the very same plane we had taken, safely, comfortably, to Addis Ababa last month; we kept picturing the flight crew's faces.

All the next day we could hear the helicopters passing over the area, looking in vain for survivors. Boats from five countries joined in the search. School was cancelled and government offices shut down in a gesture of mourning. There had been 54 Lebanese, 22 Ethiopian and a smattering of other nationalities on board, inlcuding the American-born wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon. Addis is an important transfer point for many cities in West and South Africa., and there are many Lebanese business people, mostly Shiites from south Lebanon, who work in Africa. Last month we had transferred at Addis for Johannesburg.

On Thursday the pings from the black boxes were located, six miles offshore and in a deep trench 1300 meters (425 feet) below. A submarine (Cam and I saw it today!) will photograph the wreckage, and determine whether the boxes are still inside the wreckage of the plane or are outside. If the box is outside, it will be easier to get to. Only 14 bodies have been retreived so far--perhaps most of the victims remain belted inside the remains of the plane.

Awful!