Relatives of the victims of last week’s Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board gathered beside empty coffins at a mass funeral
Relatives of the victims of last week’s Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board gathered beside empty coffins at a mass funeral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday.
Family, friends and other mourners, some holding up photographs of loved ones who died in the crash, joined a funeral procession in the streets of the nation’s capital, as the caskets were carried to the city’s Holy Trinity Cathedral.
Priests swung incense over the caskets, which were draped in flags and adorned with pictures of the deceased.
Relatives told news wires prior to the funeral that they were given small sacks of scorched earth from the site of the crash in place of remains, which are expected to take months to identify. Some relatives, including Muslim families, expressed frustration that they could not yet bury their dead, as dictated by their religious beliefs.
«The soil came as it became impossible to identify bodies and hand over remains to family members,» one family member told the Associated Press.
