Coffins filled with charred earth buried in memory of unidentifiable Ethiopia Airlines crash victims

Our Foreign Staff
A woman mourns next to coffins during the burial ceremony of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 crash victims at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Orthodox church in Addis Ababa - REUTERS
A woman mourns next to coffins during the burial ceremony of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 crash victims at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Orthodox church in Addis Ababa - REUTERS

Families of the victims of the Ethiopia Airlines crash last week had to bury coffins filled with charred earth on Sunday, as so many of the bodies were destroyed by the impact and the fire.

Bouquets of white roses surrounded aviation staff as they gathered at Bole International Airport on Sunday to remember the two pilots and six crew, who perished along with 149 passengers in the Ethiopia Airlines disaster a week ago.

Weeping women held slender single stems in their shaking hands. Banks of the white flowers, the traditional colour of mourning, were placed in front of a row of empty coffins at the ceremony.

A band - some of the musicians in tears - temporarily stopped playing as band members ran to comfort bereaved relatives who lunged forward, wailing in grief over the coffins.

"Our deep sorrow cannot bring them back," an Orthodox priest in a traditional black turban and black robes told the crowd gathered outside an airport hangar.

"This is the grief of the world," he said, as Ethiopian Airlines staff sobbed in each other's arms.

At least the crash had taken place in Ethiopia - the holy land - he said, prompting "amens" from the crowd.

Relatives mourn next to the coffins of Ethiopian passengers and crew members, during a memorial service for the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302  - Credit:  TIKSA NEGERI
Relatives mourn next to the coffins of Ethiopian passengers and crew members, during a memorial service for the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 Credit: TIKSA NEGERI

In faraway Paris, investigators are examining black box recorders to determine why the aircraft plunged into a field shortly after take off from Addis Ababa, searching for similarities to an October Lion Air crash that killed 189 people.

Both crashes involved the same model of plane - a Boeing 737 MAX 8 - causing aviation authorities to ground the model around the world after last week's accident.

But in the Ethiopian capital, families and airline staff were focused on honouring their dead.

At the airport memorial, a banner offered "deepest condolences and comfort" to the families of the deceased crew.

A female flight attendant spoke warmly of the deceased captain, Yared Getachew.

"He was a really nice person, a good person, all the words you can find to talk about a good person apply. He was a very kind human being," she said, before dissolving in tears.

Identifying the small remains that have been collected may take up to six months.