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Paul Schemm
Foreign Night Editor based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
March 14 at 12:14
TULU FARA, Ethiopia – In a plowed agricultural field, at the foot of a wooded hill, lie the remains of Flight 302 of Ethiopian Airlines which crashed on Sunday. Now, the bumpy dirt roads that lead there, usually used by cars rather than cars, are cluttered with buses, vans and sport utility vehicles bringing mourners to the site where 157 people perished in a row. tragedy that devastated families of dozens of countries rocked the airline industry.
On Thursday, Ethiopian Airlines held a memorial for the 17 Ethiopian victims, including eight crew members, carrying family members and neighbors from around the country.
The families were crying all day and often began to cry as soon as they got off their bus and saw the dark earth sown with debris from the once mbadive plane.
[Trump disparages Boeing 737s in private before grounding the plane after deadly crash]
The Boeing 737 Max 8 airliner crashed on Sunday at 8:44, shortly after takeoff from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, en route to Nairobi, Kenya. Pbadengers from more than 30 countries were on board, some heading to an environmental conference organized by the United States in the Kenyan capital. The accident has pushed countries around the world, including the United States from Wednesday, to immobilize the 737 Max or to block their airspace.
Ethiopian Airlines organized Thursday a memorial for the 17 Ethiopian victims. (Mulugeta Ayene / AP)
Here, at the accident site located about 40 km southeast of Addis Ababa, most parts of the Ethiopian plane were piled up, but traces of the tragedy are still present: Kenya's torn business card, cloud 9. clbad air business headquarter, a brochure for Parvati.org, whose director of strategic initiatives, Darcy Bélanger, was on the flight for attend the environmental conference in Nairobi.
The memories left by the mourners who visited the previous days are scattered around the stage. A bouquet of faded white roses is on the edge of the tape around the site next to two chocolate bars with Chinese envelopes. Eight Chinese nationals died in the accident.
Cries of "My child!" And "My brother!" Filled the air around the site. Some family members fell to the ground, distraught, while others simply moaned the names of their deceased relatives.
"Mulusew Alemu," repeated an old man – the name of a senior project leader of Catholic Relief Services who was heading to a training course in Nairobi with three colleagues.
Some simply watched the mound of dirt silently, tears streaming down their cheeks, as construction equipment searched the debris.
"She was one of the most successful people in the family and traveled a lot outside the country," said Micky Kbada, a tall, slender Ethiopian dreadlocked man, about his cousin, Mygenet Worku, who was working for UN. Raised by a single mother, Mygenet was known in the neighborhood for his kindness and willingness to help.
"She helped us by bringing equipment or clothes from abroad to neighbors. She had a car and was always the first to come help and take a ride, "he said, gesturing to his many friends and family to gather at the memorial crowd.
While he was talking, a bulldozer dumped other debris from the plane into a huge pile in front of people in mourning, while men wearing white masks and plastic bags were picked up In the ground.
Ethiopian parents of crash victims observe the observation of the work of a shovel at the scene of the accident. (Mulugeta Ayene / AP)
The plane plunged its nose into the ground, and much of the wreckage was buried at least 20 meters deep, said Zhang Jun, a construction engineer working on the site.
He brought back his shovel and bulldozer to Addis Ababa, where he was working on an airport construction project.
"It's in the very deep soil," he said about the debris of the plane. "The pieces are very small, no more than two meters [about 6 ½ feet] a long time, he says. The human remains that he found, he adds, "were even smaller."
The question of human remains worried many people in mourning as they plaintively asked how they could bury their dead.
Beside a tent erected for people in mourning, a group of Israelis had come to pay homage to two compatriots who were on the run. They also wondered how they could bury them and stay in the Jewish tradition without any rest.
A few hours after Sunday's crash, one of the Israelis, Moshe Biton, arrived from Israel. He went to the scene that evening in search of the remains of his brother, Shimon Reem-Biton, before being chased out by the police, said Sahar Biton, son of Moshe Biton.
"We do not have leftovers, so we can not bury our uncle. Nobody has their property, "said Sahar Biton, who arrived later and served as spokesperson for the family. "There is a hangar full of leftovers, and they will not let us enter either."
He added that an Israeli team was ready to badist in the forensic badysis, but had still not received permission.
"We have the expertise to help everyone," he said, pointing to the mourners. "Many people can not bury people."
Officials on the site emptied the bottles of water and filled them with earth for the mourners to have something to report.
An arch of flowers had been erected near the mourning tents, with petals of roses scattered on the ground. On a table filled with bouquets, relatives drew large portraits of the victims. Some have indulged in themselves, lighting candles. Others were screaming in pain and beating their chests, their voices cracking with emotion.
The flames of the candles burn during a ceremony commemorating the victims. (Tiksa Negeri / Reuters)
In front of the floral bow, half a dozen American officials nodded silently. At least 19 employees of the international body died in the accident.
"It's very difficult to see where they died," said Steven Were Omamo, national representative of the World Food Program (WFP), who lost seven employees.
"It's one thing to hear about it or see it on TV, but be here and know that's where it all ended for them," he said. "Grief is all around us – the families of Ethiopian Airlines – he brings everything home."
Read more:
Ethiopian pilots received new training for 737 Max after Indonesian crash
"They can not believe he's gone": a beloved Nigerian cultural critic died in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines
Today's coverage of Swiss Post correspondents worldwide
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