Imagine receiving news that your loved one whom you had longed to see, had been involved in a plane crash! Family and relatives who were waiting for their loved ones at JKIA after reports on the Ethiopian fatal plane crash were moved to Sheraton Hotel and upon receiving the news that all aboard the plane had perished, the news were too much to handle.
Robert Mutanda waited at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport expectantly for his brother-in-law and friend Derrick
Mutanda was among relatives and friends, who had arrived at JKIA to receive their kin, aboard the ill-fated Boeing 737-700MAX. “We arrived at the airport at around 10.00am and the plane was to touch down at around 10.15am,” he said. But there were no signs of it even at noon. People became anxious but waited anyway. “As we waited, word came that an Ethiopian Airlines plane had crashed moments after take off,” he said.
Like any other relative, he was shocked but hoped that Derrick would survive because at the time, they had not received any official communication over what had transpired. Derrick’s wife and three children live in Canada.
Francis Yongi is yet another relative who had arrived at the airport to receive her daughter. “My daughter was coming from Congo through Ethiopia. I was expecting her to arrive at 10.00am, I still have not seen her,” said Yongi.