Shortly after takeoff this morning, an Ethiopian Airlines plane with 90 passengers suddenly caught on fire and crashed into the Mediterranean sea. The airliner was taking off from Beirut, Lebanon, and was scheduled to land in Addis Ababa, capitol of Ethiopia.
No survivors have been found yet, but emergency workers have recovered 21 bodies although their initial report stated that they found 34 bodies.
Since last night, Lebanon had been experiencing terrible weather such as pouring rain along with thunder and a lot of lightning. Many suspect that the fire was caused by lightning bolts that may have struck the plane earlier that morning or the night before.
A relative of one of the passengers told a local television, "They should have delayed the flight for an hour or two to protect the passengers. There had been strong lightning bolts and we hear that lighting strikes at planes especially during take-offs".
The cause of the crash is still a mystery, and Lebanese President Michael Suleiman is ruling out terrorism, for now.
I don't know about all of you guys but with all these recent reports about plane crashes and whatnot I'm pretty scared about my next trip that I take by airplane.. but oh well. I hope that the emergency workers are able to recover more bodies soon so that the families of the passengers may have closure.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I wonder how many people have to die before people realize that flying during thunderstorms is not a good idea. This is very upsetting.
Earthquakes, weather incidents (tornados and thunderstorms) and all those other natural occurances makes it safe no where. It seems like the world is just in constant chaos whether its terrorism, bloodshed or nature's havoc.
As intimidating as it is to fly in a plane whenever these accidents (or poor decision-making), it is important to know that plane accidents don't occur as often as car accidents. It is quite common for people to mistaken the surprise of an event for its frequency when it's reported in the news.
What you said is true, Kevin. It could be that the news stations are reporting plane crashes now because of people's fears of plane bombs, etc.
Its sad nonetheless though when this happens whether or not this occurs frequently.
As unfortunate as this was, after reading this:
"A relative of one of the passengers told a local television, 'They should have delayed the flight for an hour or two to protect the passengers. There had been strong lightning bolts and we hear that lighting strikes at planes especially during take-offs.'"
I'm not sure I can feel TOO much sympathy. It's just common sense.
Post a Comment