The ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday was packed with humanitarian workers and international experts, many of whom were bound for a major United Nations environmental summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
But the plane was particularly full due to the UN Environment Assembly, which began on Monday. The summit, described as the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment, brings together member states to tackle environmental challenges.
UN officials paid their respects at the opening of the assembly. Executive director of UN Habitat Maimunah Mohd Sharif, who addressed the summit, said on Twitter: «The @UN has lost many great & hardworking personnel. May they RIP.»
The dead included at least 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight people from the United States, China and Italy, and seven from France and the United Kingdom, according to the airline. The victims’ identities have not yet been officially confirmed.
Among those bound for the summit was British citizen Joanna Toole, who was due to represent the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), according to the director of her department, fisheries and aquaculture.
«So profoundly sad and lost for words,» Manuel Barange said in a tweet . «A wonderful human being, who loved her work with a passion.»
The FAO, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Sudan, the World Bank and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) each lost one staff member in the crash. The Office of the High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) lost two, as did the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
