British aid worker latest victim of Ethiopian Airlines crash as British death toll rises to 'at least nine'
Ethiopian Airlines said 157 passengers and crew members were killed when one of its jets crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa on Sunday morning.
At least nine Britons and one Irish citizen were among the dead, as were scientists, doctors, aid workers and three members of a Slovakian MP's family.
The Foreign Office said: "We can now sadly confirm at least nine British nationals were on board flight ET302.
"Our staff at the British Embassy in Addis Ababa are continuing to work with the relevant authorities in Ethiopia to obtain further information. "We extend our deepest condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and those affected by this tragic event."
Here is what we know so far about the victims:
Sam Pegram
An aid worker from Penwortham has been identified tonight as one of the 157 people who died when an Ethiopian Airways plane crashed near Addis Ababa yesterday.
Geneva-based Mr Pegram, 25 and from Penwortham, was an intern with the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The Lancashire Evening Post quoted Mr Pegram's mother Deborah, who said: "Sam was so looking forward to going to Nairobi. He loved the work he was doing.
"We can't believe this has happened. We're totally devastated."
Sahra Hassan Said and Nasrudin Abdulkadir
The family of Sarah Hassan Said and her son Nasrudin Abdulkadir has confirmed that the pair died on the plane.
It is understood they are dual Somali-British nationals.
Ms Hassain Said's siblings and nephew wrote tributes to the mother and son on Facebook.
Ms Said’s brother wrote: “May Allah have mercy on them.”
Another relative, Maxamuud Hassan, said the pair had been travelling from Germany together, writing: “We are feeling so bad right now. We have lost so much.”
Joanna Toole
Joanna Toole, a 36-year-old from Exmouth, Devon, was heading to Nairobi to attend the UN Environment Assembly when she was killed.
Her father, Adrian, described her as a "very soft and loving" woman whose "work was not a job - it was her vocation".
"It's just tragic that she couldn't carry on to further her career and achieve more," he told the BBC.
"She was very well known in her own line of business and we've had many tributes already paid to her."
He also said she used to keep homing pigeons and pet rats and travelled to the remote Faroe Islands to prevent whaling.
Manuel Barange, director of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations fisheries and aquaculture department, tweeted saying he was "profoundly sad and lost for words" over the death of the "wonderful human being".
Michael Ryan
Irishman Michael Ryan was among the seven dead from the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), a Rome-based humanitarian organisation distributing billions of rations every year to those in need.
The aid worker and engineer known as Mick was formerly from Lahinch in Co Clare in Ireland's west and was believed to be married with two children and living in Cork.
His projects have included creating safe ground for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and assessing the damage to rural roads in Nepal which were blocked by landslides.
Irish premier Leo Varadkar said: "Michael was doing life-changing work in Africa with the World Food Programme."
Mr Ryan's mother Christine said that her son "wanted to save the world".
He was employed by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), which is a leading humanitarian organisation delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with impoverished communities to improve nutrition.
The married father-of-two, who was originally from Lahinch in Co Clare, had relocated to Rome to work at WFP headquarters.
His wife Naoise and children were due to move out to Rome in the coming months.
Speaking to RTE Morning Ireland, Christine said: "He's an amazing person, we can't believe it and we can't come to terms with this.
"His wife and children are just devastated.
"He was a very enthusiastic person, he had a great vision and he believed in engineering and in putting people first."
Mrs Ryan said she knew he was flying to Nairobi but didn't know he was on the flight that crashed until his wife contacted her.
"Naoise was saying that she was always concerned when he got on different flights but when he got on this particular flight she wasn't particularly concerned as he had been in worse situations and survived and got through it," Christine added.
"He was involved in a lot of projects worldwide, flood relief, landslides, Ebola. He had been in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Sudan.
"He felt he made a difference. He had a marvellous vision and he just got there and did it and had great enthusiasm.
"He always wanted to help others and he loved people and would light up a room. He had a way with people.
"He never wanted a nine to five job, he put everything into his work.
"He had some amazing stories. There was a lot of danger for him but he loved his work. We all appreciated what he was doing and we couldn't take that away from him."
Mrs Ryan said her son was turning 40 at the end of the month and the family were to fly to Rome next week for the celebrations.
Sarah Auffret
Polar tourism expert Sarah Auffret was making her way to Nairobi to discuss tackling plastic pollution in the seas at the UN assembly, according to her Norway-based employers Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO).
The University of Plymouth graduate held dual French-British citizenship, Norwegian media reported.
Raised in Brittany, the environmental agent was leading AECO's efforts to cut back single-use plastics on Arctic expeditions and co-ordinating beach clean-ups.
Tributes were paid by the University of Plymouth to Sarah Auffret, who graduated in 2007 after studying European Studies and German.
"The university was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Sarah Auffret over the weekend and sends its deepest condolences to her family and friends," a spokesman said.
"Sarah was an exemplary student who fully embraced university life and took every opportunity to develop herself while she was here.
"She is remembered as someone who had a passion for learning about Europe and a strong moral compass.
"In her role at the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, Sarah had also met several of the university's leading scientists at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromso this year.
"They, like many others in the audience, had been deeply impressed with her presentation on plastic pollution and her evident passion for the planet."
Joseph Waithaka
Joseph Waithaka, a 55-year-old who lived in Hull for a decade before moving back to his native Kenya, also died in the crash, his son told the Hull Daily Mail.
Ben Kuria, who lives in London, said his father had worked for the Probation Service, adding: "He helped so many people in Hull who had found themselves on the wrong side of the law."
It is understood Mr Waithaka had a dual-nationality passport.
His son paid tribute to his father Joseph Waithaka, calling him "one of the humblest people that I know".
Mr Kuria, from south London, said: "He's someone who really loved justice, and didn't give up on people most people had given up on.
"He really just wanted the best for his kids. He was a father not just to us but to so many people in so many ways."
The foreign nationals who died in the crash
Senior Captain Yared Getachew, who was a dual Ethiopian-Kenyan national, was the pilot on the flight. Colleagues said he had piloted over 8,000 hours and had an "excellent flying record".
Anton Hrnko, an MP for the nationalist Slovak National Party, said he was "in deep grief" to announce that his wife Blanka, daughter Michala and son Martin were among the dead.
Hospitality company Tamarind Group announced "with immense shock and grief" that its chief executive Jonathan Seex was among the fatalities.
German national Anne-Katrin Feigl was named as a crash victim by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). She was en route to a training course in Nairobi as part of her role as a junior professional officer at the organisation.
Italian Paolo Dieci, a founder of an aid group that works with Unicef in Africa, was also reported as among the dead.
Three members of humanitarian organisation Africa Tremila, based in Bergamo, Italy, were on board. The aid group's president Carlo Spini, his wife Gabriella Viggiani, and treasurer Matteo Ravasio were among the eight Italians killed.
Sicilian regional culture ministry assessor Sebastiano Tusa, an underwater archaeologist, was also reportedly on the plane.
Also among those killed from the WFP were Virginia Chimenti and Maria Pilar Buzzetti.
Cedric Asiavugwa, a 32-year-old law student at Georgetown University in Washington was travelling to Nairobi, his home town, following a family bereavement, college officials told the Washington Post.
The African Diaspora Youth Forum in Europe said co-chairman Karim Saafi had been a passenger on the flight and had been due to represent them at a meeting with the African Union in Nairobi.
Professor Pius Adesamni was named as a victim by Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Hussein Swaleh, the former secretary general of the Football Kenya Federation, was named as being among the dead by Sofapaka Football Club.
Abiodun Oluremi Bashua - a retired envoy who served in Iran, Austria and Ivory Coast - was killed, Nigeria's foreign affairs ministry said.
Austrian media reported that three doctors who were aged between 30 and 40 and worked at hospitals in Linz had died.
Save the Children said its child protection in emergencies adviser Tamirat Mulu Demessie was among the dead.
Three of the Russians on board were tourists Yekaterina Polyakova, Alexander Polyakov and Sergei Vyalikov, the Russian Embassy in Ethiopia said. The first two were reportedly married.
Max Thabiso Edkins, who studied at Oxford University, has been confirmed by his employer, The World Bank, as one of the victims. He spent his life working on climate change projects and was en route to the One Planet Summit in Nairobi on the plane that crashed. He was born in Lesotho and grew up between Lesotho, Germany and South Africa.
Canadian Danielle Moore, 24, was travelling to a UN environment conference in Nairobi. She was an expert in marine biology, working as a member of the clean ocean advocacy group Ocean Wise and as an education lead at the charity Canada Learning Code.
Karoline Aadland, 28, from Norway, was a programme finance co-ordinator for the Norwegian Red Cross.
"Our thoughts are with her next of kin. Our focus is on providing them with assistance in this difficult time," the Norwegian Red Cross tweeted.
The Addis Ababa office for Catholic Relief Services lost four senior Ethiopian staffers who were traveling to Nairobi for a training program. They were identified as Sara Chalachew, Getnet Alemayehu, Sintayehu Aymeku and Mulusew Alem.
Susan Abu Faraj and Asmat Arnasa, from Egypt, were interpreters for the African Union who had been flying to attend the U.N. conference in Nairobi.
Indian citizen Shikha Garg, a consultant with India’s Environment Ministry working with the U.N. Development Program, also died in the crash while travelling to the conference.
