4 Christian aid workers on their way to attend training were among the 157 people killed in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash last week.
The four were employees of Catholic Relief Services, and were on board the fallen Boeing 737 MAX 8 that was en route to Nairobi, Kenya. The airliner crashed just minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
CRS is the official international humanitarian arm of the Catholic community in the United States and provides much-needed assistance to some of the world’s most vulnerable people in over 100 countries.
CRS has worked for nearly 60 years in Ethiopia to respond to natural and man-made disasters that have affected the East African nation. It has led recovery projects for drought and flood-prone areas and has rebuilt individual and community assets through aid programs.
A CRS statement read, “All 4 individuals were Ethiopian nationals traveling to Nairobi to attend a training on our behalf. Although we are in mourning, we celebrate the lives of these colleagues and the selfless contributions they made to our mission, despite the risks and sacrifices that humanitarian work can often entail.”
The Ethiopian Airlines flight was the second Boeing 737 Max 8 jet to have crashed in the last five months.
The pilot of the doomed aircraft reported a problem to flight control shortly after takeoff and asked to return to the airport. But the plane would not make it back and crashed near the town of Bishoftu, about 40 miles away from Bole International Airport.