Lebenese, January 25: A Fierce storm appears to have caused the crash of an Ethiopian Airline jet that plunged in a ball of fire into the sea with 90 people on board, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said yesterday.
“Bad weather was apparently the cause of the crash,” Mr Murr said.
“We have ruled out foul play so far,” he added, noting that soldiers combing the Lebanese shoreline had recovered pieces of the plane.
“When there is an explosion (on board an airplane) nothing is usually left.”
Ethiopian Airline Flight 409 went down in flames off Lebanon’s coast shortly after takeoff from Beirut airport yesterday.
There were no reports of survivors.
“We will continue search operations in the hope of finding survivors,” Mr Murr said, adding that no deadline had been set.
“We are seeking to recover the black box and the recording between the control tower and the pilot to determine what happened.”
He added that Prime Minister Saad Hariri would chair an emergency ministerial meeting later Monday to assess the situation.
—Agencies