The United Nations has suffered one of its biggest losses in years in the deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet bound for Nairobi, the head of the U.N. in Geneva said on Monday, without giving a new casualty figure.
Michael Moller, director-general of the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva, told a minute of silence, where some 150 personnel gathered: “It is one of the biggest catastrophes we have had in years”.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in a statement on Sunday night, gave a preliminary toll of 19 people from at least five U.N. and affiliated agencies, including the IOM, among 157 victims.
Meanwhile the black box recovered from the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed on Sunday is the cockpit voice recorder, Ethiopian state TV said on Monday. Investigators at the crash site recovered the recorder, TV said.
Accident Bulletin no. 6
Issued on March 11, 2019 at 01:40 PM Local Time
The Digital Flight Data Recorder(DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder(CVR) of ET302 have been Recovered.— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) March 11, 2019
The passenger jet bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off, killing all 157 people on board and raising questions about the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, a new model that also crashed in Indonesia in October.
