Agencies / UNITED NATIONS
At least 19 affiliated with the United Nations were among those killed in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet near Addis Ababa on Sunday, says the UN migration agency chief.
Authorities said all 157 people on board were killed when the Boeing 737 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on a flight to Nairobi, where
the UN conference was being held.
“Early indications are that 19 staff members of UN affiliated organizations perished,” said International Organization for Migration head Antonio Vitorino.
“Numerous other staff members from at least five UN and affiliated organizations are understood to have also perished,” he said. Along with the
IOM, the World Food Program, UN Refugee Agency, World Bank, UN Environment Agency and others lost colleagues, he said.
The environmental community is in mourning today. As we begin the fourth UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, we came together to remember those we have lost in the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines flight. https://t.co/DEIWdW2tQt pic.twitter.com/WoVagVvxlS
— Joyce Msuya (@JoyceMsuya) March 11, 2019
Among the IOM staff on the plane was Anne Feigl, who worked for the agency’s mission in Sudan.
Mission chief Catherine Northing remembered Feigl as “an extremely valued colleague and popular staff member, committed and professional.”
Meanwhile World Food Program director David Beasley, who confirmed seven of his staff had died, said: “As we mourn, let us reflect that each of these WFP
colleagues were willing to travel and work far from their homes and loved ones to help make the world a better place to live.”
In a statement, Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, did not confirm the number of colleagues among the dead — but said
his agency had suffered a “huge loss.”
