Ethiopian plane rammed the ground at lightning speed, digging up to 10m into the ground

Malka Galato (47), a barley and wheat farmer in whose field the plane crashed has told reporters that the ill fated Ethiopian plane that crashed killing 157 people was making a strange rattling noise and trailed smoke and debris as it swerved above a field of panicked cows before hitting earth.

“The plane was very close to the ground and it made a turn… Cows that were grazing in the fields ran in panic,” he said.

Tamirat Abera (25) was walking past the field at the time. He said the plane turned sharply, trailing white smoke and items like clothes and papers, then crashed about 300 metres away.

The plane rammed the ground at lightning speed, digging upto ten metres into the ground, explaining in part the extent of the damage to the Boeing 737 Max 8 jet.

“It tried to climb but it failed and went down nose first,” he said. “There was fire and white smoke which then turned black.”

As the plane had only just taken off, it was loaded with fuel.Crash debris appeared to be spread across a large flat plain. There was a large crater, and metal fragments of the plane strewn around.

On the ground in Ijera village, some 140km by road from Bole International Airport, investigators dug around the crater created by the crash as they collected what would unravel the mystery surrounding the accident.

On site were at least six excavators that were deployed to dig out the accident scene in a bid to dig out all debris, most of which had been taken away for forensic investigations.
Blackbox from the plane had been recovered by last evening when The Standard team arrived at the scene where fragments of the plane, personal belongings of the victims and body parts were scattered.

Information from the equipment would be central to the investigation including revealing the last moments after the flight Captain Yared Getachew unsuccessfully sought to return to Bole International Airport after the aircraft developed mechanical problems.
People involved in the prior investigations indicated that the pilots had sounded a warning relating to his inability to control the plane which had taken an unprecedented nosedive before hitting the ground and breaking to parts.