Ethiopian airliner ‘shot down by Israeli missile’
Posted by feww on January 25, 2010
Ethiopian jet crashed into the Mediterranean
Informed sources advise the blog that the plane may have been shot down by an Israeli missile.
An Ethiopian Airlines jet with 90 people on board crashed into the Mediterranean sea earlier today.
An Ethiopian Airlines 737-800. Photo released by Boeing. Image may be subject to copyright.
The plane crashed shortly after take-off from Beirut international airport at about 2:00am local time on Monday, airport sources said, Reuters reported.
“The Boeing 737-800 disappeared off the radar some five minutes after taking off, shortly after its scheduled departure time of 2:10 a.m. (7:10 p.m. EST), during a thunderstorm and heavy rain, the sources said. It was heading for Addis Ababa.”
Eyewitnesses say the plane exploded midair and they saw a “ball of fire” in the air before the plane crashed off Na’ameh village, a few kilometers south of Beirut, according to various sources.
“(The crash) site has been identified three-and-a-half km (two miles) west of the (coastal) village of Na’ameh,” officials said, Reuters reported.
There were Eighty-three passengers and seven crew onboard the airliner, according to the plane’s manifest, Reuters reported sources as saying.
“About 50 passengers were Lebanese nationals, three with dual nationalities: British, Canadian and Russian. Most of the others were Ethiopians. Hundreds of Ethiopians work as domestic helpers in Lebanon.”
The plane had flown to Beirut from Addis Ababa earlier in the night and was returning to Ethiopia.
Marla Pietton, wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton, was on the downed plane, according to the French embassy.
“We saw a flash in the sky… We saw a flash over the sea and it was the plane falling.” Another eyewitness told reporters.
Previous incidents of passenger jets destroyed by military shoot-down include:
- Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by Soviet air force jet on September 1, 1983, over the Sea of Japan, west of Sakhalin island, after it entered prohibited Soviet airspace.
- Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz by missiles fired from the U.S. Navy’s guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes, killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard, including 66 children, on Sunday 3 July 1988.
- On July 17th, 1996, TWA flight 800, a Boeing 747-131, which had just taken off from JFK airport heading to Paris, France, was struck by an “external object” believed to be a military test missile, exploded and fell into the Atlantic ocean, killing all 230 people onboard.
State-owned carrier, Ethiopian airline flies to about 60 destinations, and is said to have a “good” safety record. In 1996 one of the airlines’ planes was hijacked and later ditched into sea off Comoros killing 123 people. Another 52 people survived the incident.
Related Links:
Fire Earth 
John S said
Oh my God! I was just searching for information about an airliner shot down by Israel during Nixons administration, and then find this. WTF, the Liberty attacks on Lebanon, attacks on American theaters in Egypt, the Liberty and now this. Why are we still giving these terrorists foreign aid?. Why do we call Israel an ally? Why do we still go to war for Israel and let them control our monetary system with the Federal Reserve?
feww said
Found the following at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Arab_Airlines_Flight_114
Is it the episode you alluded to?
“Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was a regularly scheduled flight from Tripoli to Cairo via Benghazi shot down by Israeli fighter jets in 1973.
“At 10:30 on February 21, 1973, the 727-224 left Tripoli, but became lost due to a combination of bad weather and equipment failure over northern Egypt around 13:44 (1:44 P.M. local). It entered the then-Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Peninsula, was intercepted by two Israeli F-4 Phantom IIs and shot down, after refusing to land, with most of the people on board killed.[1] Of the 113 people on board, there were 5 survivors, including the co-pilot.[1][2]”
John S said
bilisummaa said
Things are purposely done by damned America who is usually sucking the blood of the righteous and drinking it.
This is the dirty politics of Americans and The Israelis.
May lord suck their blood as they have killed 90 poor Ethiopians and so many people from other nations.
feww said
Bilisummaa said:
“This is the dirty politics of Americans and The Israelis.”
Any source for the above statement which you could share with our readers?
Ashenafi said
hello feww
What is going on?
Everybody has kept silent. Does that mean they have agreed to not to tell the truth?
Ashenafi said
What’s going on?
Why is it that the lebanese officials not commenting on the missing segments on the recorded voice?
Dear feww, do u have any answer?
I do have some, not many; that’s why I will keep on asking you.
TNX
feww said
See http://rtsf.wordpress.com/ blog for some of the answers you are looking for.
feww said
Ethiopian airline has commented that “vital information and facts were still missing” and that [blaming the crash on the pilot] would be “speculative, incorrect and misleading.” Fire-Earth
See below:
All bodies recovered from Ethiopian Boeing 737 crash
http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/195538.asp
Image Gallery
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/gallery.asp?SubID=5405&page=1>itle=Ethiopian%20Airlines%20crash
Ethiopian Airlines says all crash bodies recovered
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/24/2828449.htm?section=justin
feww said
“‘Full report’ on plane crash due this week”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=112036
feww said
Initial response to “preliminary report”
“Media reports indicate ‘pilot error’ behind plane crash”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=111947
“Meanwhile, more body parts belonging to the crash’s victims were recovered Friday, according to security sources.”
And:
“Ethiopian plane crash due to human error”
http://www.iloubnan.info/politics/actualite/id/42970/lebanon/Ethiopian-plane-crash-due-to-human-error
“The plane took off on January 25 at 2:37 a.m. and hit the water at 2:40 a.m., which means that the flight lasted four minutes only. The plane suddenly rose to approximately 2,750 meters before it plunged into the sea. The descent took around 40 seconds.”
Also at:
“Human Error behind Ethiopian Plane Crash: Preliminary Report”
http://www.iloubnan.info/politics/actualite/id/42970/lebanon/Ethiopian-plane-crash-due-to-human-error
“The report said the jet remained intact until it hit water.”
Ashenafi said
Now they are to blame the co-pilot, what do you think FEWW?
Why all this on those who can’t defend themselves?
feww said
Horse manure!
That’s the best way you can describe the “preliminary report.”
feww said
Lebanon hands over bodies of 10 foreign victims of Ethiopian airlines crash
By Carol Rizk
Daily Star staff
Monday, February 15, 2010
BEIRUT: Lebanon on Saturday handed over the bodies of 10 foreign victims killed in last month’s Ethiopian plane crash. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409, bound for Addis Ababa, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on January 25 shortly after take-off from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport. All 83 passengers and seven crew are presumed dead.
Victims included the wife of France’s ambassador to Lebanon, Marla Sanchez Pietton. Her body was transported to Hotel Dieu Hospital early Saturday morning before being flown to Paris for burial.
The bodies of five Lebanese victims were also handed to their families: Khalil Saleh, Mohammad Bazzouni, Tanal Fardoun, and Asaad Massoud Feghali. The body of Hussein Youssef al-Hajj was transported to Nabatieh in South Lebanon on Sunday.
The Rafik Hariri University Hospital also handed over the bodies of five Ethiopian victims to the Ethiopian Consulate, leaving the bodies of seven other Ethiopians at the hospital. The bodies, four women and one man, were flown to their home country on Sunday on board flight IT 3414 bound for Addis Ababa.
The families of Lebanese victims gathered at the hospital not only to receive the bodies of their loved ones but also to express their doubts concerning official reports about the crash.
“There are many questions we need to ask,” said Sheikh Hussein al-Harakeh speaking on behalf of the families. “We don’t want to analyze but we want clear answers.”
Hiba Mahdi, a sister of one of the victims, asked Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi to clarify the matter and said she was not convinced with the information she had been given.
“Before applauding employees at the control tower, the crash site should have been determined and the bodies of our loved ones should have been recovered,” she said.
Ali Issawi, the son of one of the victims also questioned why professional divers were not allowed to participate in the search for the plane’s debris while they were allowed to do so during investigations into Rafik Hariri’s murder in 2005 near Beirut’s Saint Georges Hotel.
He also demanded the government explain why only parts of the plane’s black box, rather than the whole box, had been found.“Where is the committee that we were promised would be in contact with us?” he asked.
Health Minister Mohammad Jawwad Khalifeh is scheduled to meet with families of the victims on Monday, while Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar is to preside over a meeting of the judicial committee formed to follow up on the plane crash. – With AP
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=111775
Copyright © 2010, The Daily Star. All rights reserved.
Ashenafi said
An empty voice recorder box?!
What is going on guys?
When will truth prevail?
feww said
Ashenafi
You already know the truth!
anonymous said
Black box data rule out sabotage of crashed plane
(AFP) – 1 day ago
BEIRUT — Black box data show sabotage cannot be blamed for the crash of an Ethiopian airliner that killed 90 people when it plunged into the sea off Beirut last month, a Lebanese minister said on Thursday.
Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said the conclusion was reached based on a preliminary report of technical information found in the flight data recorder following expert analysis in France.
The data “showed that all the aircraft’s instruments functioned well until it crashed, which rejects the hypothesis of an act (of sabotage) involving an explosion,” Aridi told a news conference at Beirut airport.
His comments came after the office of Information Minister Tareq Mitri issued a statement saying “there is absolutely no evidence an act of sabotage or a terrorist act.”
There have been conflicting reports as to whether the passenger jet exploded while airborne or after it hit the water.
The Lebanese government had already ruled out sabotage and pilot error as causes of the crash, but Ethiopian Airlines said on Wednesday that it could not reject any factor, including foul play.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 plunged into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after takeoff from Beirut airport on January 25 during a fierce storm.
The Boeing 737-800 was bound for Addis Ababa with 83 passengers and seven crew on board. No survivors were found and searchers have been struggling to recover bodies as most victims are believed to be still strapped to their seats.
Copyright © 2010 AFP
Jane B. said
I agree 100 percent with your findings. Best regards, Jane B
============================================================
Ethiopian Airliner’s flight recorders sent to France
Relatives Protest over how Cabinet handled incident
By Patrick Galey
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
BEIRUT: The flight recorders from the Ethiopian Airlines plane which crashed off the coast of Beirut were transported Monday to France, where investigators hope to unlock the secret of what caused the disaster.
A team of specialists left Rafik Hariri International Airport at dawn with the black boxes on Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s private plane, the National News Agency reported.
The team included General Director of Civil Aviation Hamdi Chawk and Boeing representative Dennis Jones, it added.
Lebanese naval commandoes located the two flight recorders from the Boeing 737-800 offshore from Naameh, south of Beirut, on Sunday. They were at a depth of 45 meters and contained within a fragment of the plane’s fuselage, according to Transport and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi.
“[Investigators] are working on coming up with a report and all the people from the committee are in France,” Aridi told The Daily Star on Monday.
“When we find the second flight recorders they will also be sent to France.”
Aridi said there was no time scale on the investigation.
“There are many problems and we are busy with many things, including [identifying] expatriates. We are still looking for the second [flight recorders] and awaiting the results of the investigations, but it will take time,” he said.
Flight ET409 plunged into the sea minutes after taking off from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport airport amid a violent thunderstorm on January 25, with 83 passengers and seven crew members on board. No survivors have been found.
On Sunday, eight further bodies were pulled from the eastern Mediterranean taking to 23 the total number retrieved from the crash. Several are still unidentified.
Security sources told The Daily Star that the individuals recovered were seated at the back of the plane and would take several days to identify. Many bodies were not intact when retrieved, the sources added.
Public criticism of the government’s handling of the crash aftermath continued to swell Monday, with protests by relatives of Ethiopian victims outside Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut and by four families of Lebanese victims in the southern village of Kfar Jawz objecting to the slow pace of clear up operations.
Hizbullah’s politburo head Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, called on Lebanese authorities to openly publish information gathered so far on the plane crash “so as to preserve Lebanon’s reputation.”
Information Minister Tarek Mitri, speaking to reporters following a ministerial meeting on the progress of investigations, defended the government’s response to the disaster.
“It is time for Lebanon to take measures so it can face disasters in a better way,” he said. The general consensus in the meeting was that the government departments from the first day have conducted themselves seriously and professionally.
“They showed extraordinary abilities.”
Mitri added that the search for the additional plane fragments was continuing.
“We will not close the file, a search is ongoing and an investigation will start now that we have found the black boxes. No decision has been taken to put an end to searches,” he said. Search operations will be pursued with the same seriousness and motivation as they have been so far.”
Mitri also announced two further ministerial meetings, scheduled this week, to discuss the disaster’s aftermath and said a committee was being considered to better prepare Lebanon for similar incidents in the future.
“One of the first lessons is to establish a committee tasked with coordinating between all concerned authorities that will deal quickly and effectively with events [such as this] that we hope will not be repeated,” he added.
Mitri refused to put a timescale on investigations, saying only “we will not know [the outcome] tomorrow.”
Bad weather is thought to be the most likely cause of the crash, with Lebanese and Ethiopian officials ruling out sabotage. The plane had passed a maintenance check on December 25 when no faults were found.
The retrieval of flight recorders represents a major breakthrough in the search and recovery operation which has been under way since the crash. The crucial cockpit flight recorders that may contain voice recordings of the pilot in the seconds before the plane disappeared off radar screens for good continue to elude salvage crews.
Search conditions have been described as “difficult and complicated” by officials and the main body of the plane will remain on the seabed at a depth of 1,500 meters until submarines drafted from international recovery teams can reach it.
The investigation is being conducted by a team of Lebanese technicians, supported by the Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses, Frances accident investigation agency. The final report will be presented to Lebanese and Ethiopian officials, as well as the plane manufacturer Boeing.
Also on Monday, it was announced that a Mass to honor the memory of victims of flight ET409 will be read by Beirut Archbishop Boulos Matar in downtown Beirut on Thursday. – with AP
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=111623
Copyright © 2010, The Daily Star. All rights reserved.
feww said
Ethiopia Airlines jet ‘black box’ retrieved in Lebanon
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8502741.stm
Lebanon’s Transport Minister said on Saturday that Lebanese army search teams had retrieved the recorders at a depth of 45m (150ft) off the coastal village of Naameh, south of Beirut airport.
“An army official said the recorder was taken to a naval base in Beirut to be handed over to crash investigators.”
“At least 15 bodies have been recovered since the crash, but stormy weather has hampered searchers several times in the last two weeks.” BBC said.
dd said
is that true?
feww said
@dd
What do you think?
2@m said
Dear Sirs
The black box is found, is there any information?
feww said
We haven’t heard anything yet, but will print any comments made by the authorities.
2@m said
ok thanks am always visit your site I need good answer
2@m said
Pleace tell us more with am Ethiopian
feww said
A search team has reportedly located “black box” flight recorders. Let’s first hear the authorities’ version of what went wrong, then we’ll tell you whether they are telling you the truth!
feww said
Israel successfully tests Iron Dome missile shield
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0107/Israel-successfully-tests-Iron-Dome-missile-shield
noname said
Pilot Error!!! It can’t be piloting error. Ethiopian pilots are believed to be among the most reputed and experienced pilots in the world. Time reveals the truth and we shall look forward to that!
feww said
Eyewitnesses have described a “flash” [consistent with an external strike, e.g., a missile] in the air, and a “ball” of fire as the plane plunged in to the Mediterranean sea.
“Time reveals the truth and we shall look forward to that!”
Judging by how much time has revealed about acts of sabotage and false-flag operations in the past, your comment is not helpful.
feww said
Reuters’ photo gallery:
http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow?articleId=USTRE60O08T20100126#a=1
Short Video:
http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSTRE60O08T20100126?videoId=33135454
Ethiopian airliner ’shot down by missile’? | NO LIES RADIO said
[…] Ethiopian airliner ’shot down by Israeli missile’ […]
msrb said
TIME/ DATE: Monday January 25, 2010 4:07pm EST
All 90 people aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane are now feared dead
“Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said he did not think the plane had been brought down deliberately, emphasizing “a sabotage attack is unlikely.”
“Defense Minister Elias el-Murr said that weather “in principle” was to blame for the crash. He later told local media there was information indicating “it was a pilot error” but did not provide further details.” Reuters reported. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60O08T20100125
It’s amazing how soon after the tragedy they have been able to make these sweeping statements, while there are still 66 bodies unaccounted for and the black box flight recorders haven’t been recovered.
Nunu said
The Government of Ethiopia (ethnocentric) which is the most brutal and terrorist(terrorizing its own people) government in Africa might have also been involved in the plane crash.
feww said
Two problems with your theory:
1. The Airline is owned by the government and is one of its major sources of income.
2. The plane is believed to have been shot-down by a missile.
hosi said
[Comment edited by Moderator. See Editorial Policy.]
AMD said
The concerned bodies must identify the cause of the accident and publicize their findings as soon as possible.
msrb said
TIME/ DATE: Monday January 25, 2010 8:13am EST
NO survivors in Ethiopian plane crash
“The Lebanese army said the plane had broken up in the air before plummeting into rough seas and hopes of finding any survivors faded 12 hours after the crash. Witnesses described the impact as a ‘flash that lit up the whole sea’ and a ‘ball of fire.'”
“Twenty-four bodies have so far been recovered, at least six of Ethiopian origin, officials said. Some of the bodies were so unrecognizable from the impact of the crash that DNA testing would be needed to identify them.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60O08T20100125
feww said
Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:10am EST
Ethiopian plane crashes off Beirut, 14 bodies found, NO report of survivors, airline’s CEO said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60O08T20100125
feww said
Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:15am EST
Lebanese search teams have just recovered four bodies from the site of the crashed Ethiopian Airliner off the coast of Lebanon, a Lebanese official said, Reuters reported. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60O08T20100125
feww said
Ethiopian airliner crashes after takeoff from Beirut – Includes Photo Gallery
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60O08T20100125
Ethiopian airliner with 90 aboard crashes off Lebanon
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/01/25/ethiopian.airliner.crash/
Ethiopian Airlines jet crashes into sea off Beirut
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8478060.stm
Joshua Hall said
[…]
DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
[No we didn’t understand your message. Are you threatening to bring down another airliner with a missile? Can you resend your “WMD threat” in legible English? Moderator]
[86.136.76.184]