WINDHOEK- International Relations and Cooperation Executive Director Selma Ashipala-Musavyi yesterday confirmed that no Namibian national was on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa ON Sunday.

All 157 persons on the plane died in the crash.
The Ethiopian Airline reported that 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi in Kenya.

On the side lines of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Council of Ministers meeting which started in Windhoek yesterday, Ashipala-Musavyi said the list presented has no Namibian nationals.

She said President Hage Geingob has conveyed his condolences and sympathy on behalf of Namibia to the Ethiopian government and its people, especially to the affected families. 

Her ministry has been in touch with the Namibian mission in Addis Ababa to verify whether any Namibians were involved in the crash.

“They have presented the list they received from the government of Ethiopia. There were no Namibians on the flight. Nevertheless, our hearts go out to the people of Ethiopia and especially to the families of those who perished,” she said.  
Citizens of 35 countries were reportedly among the 157 people killed in Sunday’s crash. Among them are 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians and eight passengers each from China, Italy and the United States. Others include seven each from France and UK, six from Egypt as well as five passengers from Germany.

The United Nations has announced 19 of their staff members were among the dead, including employees of the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner on Refugees and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Sunday’s incident marked the second time in less than six months that a new Boeing aircraft crashed just minutes into a flight. A Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight went down over the Java Sea in last October, killing all 189 people on board.