25 January,2010 11:43 AM IST | | AFP
An Ethiopian airliner transporting 90 passengers and crew crashed in stormy weather just after takeoff in Lebanon early Monday, plunging into the Mediterranean sea, Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said.
Witnesses reported seeing saw a ball of fire as the jet plunged into the sea. Aridi said Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 lost contact with the airport control tower shortly after takeoff and crashed into the sea about 12 km south of the airport.
"The control tower was assisting the pilot of the plane on takeoff and suddenly lost contact for no known reason,' Aridi told reporters, adding that the Boeing 737 crashed some 3.5 km off the coast. He said the passengers include 54 Lebanese, 22 Ethiopians, one Iraqi, one French woman, one Syrian and seven crew members. There were also several dual nationals including two British-Lebanese, one Canadian-Lebanese and a Russian-Lebanese.
An airport official had initially said that 92 people were on board the doomed flight, which he said crashed about five minutes after takeoff at 2:30 am local time.
Aridi said he had formed an investigative committee to determine the cause of the crash and had contacted nearby countries to assist in the search and rescue effort. It was unclear whether there were any survivors.
The Lebanese army, navy as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), were assisting in the rescue, Aridi added. "We have contacted everyone, inside and outside the country, that can assist us and the Lebanese navy, the army and UNIFIL have joined in the rescue," the minister added.
The wife of France's ambassador to Lebanon was also on board an Ethiopian airliner, a Lebanese government official said. "Among the names on the passenger list was that of Marla Sanchez Pietton, the wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ambassador Denis Pietton took up his post in Lebanon in September. Families of the passengers, some of them weeping, could be seen arriving at Beirut International Airport, where they were escorted to a private area to await news of their loved ones.
The Boeing 737-800, which entered into commercial service in 1998, is one of the latest versions of the world's most widely used short to medium-haul airliners, and is capable of carrying up to 189 passengers.
The accident took place amid heavy rains and storms in Lebanon in the past two days that have caused heavy flooding and damages in some part of the country.
