Ethiopian jet crash pilot 'changed direction'
A relative of one of the passengers on board the flight which crashed breaks down as she approaches Rafic Hariri airport
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By Sam Ross. |  |
Tuesday, 26, Jan 2010 02:07
By Matthew Champion.
The pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines jet which crashed off the coast of Lebanon yesterday inexplicably changed direction shortly after takeoff, it has emerged.
The 90 people on board the flight are all feared dead after eyewitnesses reported seeing a ball of flame plunge into the Mediterranean 3.5km (2.1 miles) west of the town of Na'ameh, 15km (nine miles) south of Beirut.
Lebanese transport minister Ghazi Aridi said the pilot had been asked to correct his path due to a violent storm close to Rafic Hariri airport in the early hours of Monday morning.
"But he did a very fast and strange turn before disappearing completely from the radar," he told the Associated Press news agency.
The airline has said that 82 passengers and eight crew members were on board flight ET409, the majority from Ethiopia or Lebanon, with citizens from Britain, Turkey, France, Russia, Canada, Syria and Iraq also feared dead.
Between 14 and 25 bodies have been recovered from the Mediterranean sea so far, with searches involving American, British, French and Cypriot planes still looking for the Boeing 737-800's flight recorders.
"Ethiopian Airlines would like to express its deepest sympathy for the crew members, passengers and family members affected by the unfortunate accident of ET409 on January 25th en-route to Addis from Beirut," a statement from the airline said.
"The pilot of flight ET409 was a career flight professional with over 20 years of experience flying various aircraft over the expanded network of the airline."
The airline added that the aircraft received its regular maintenance service on Christmas Day and was declared safe and fit to fly.