{"id":75512,"date":"2019-03-13T02:06:05","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T00:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=75512"},"modified":"2019-03-13T02:06:05","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T00:06:05","slug":"ethiopian-airlines-crash-i-prayed-for-their-souls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/03\/13\/ethiopian-airlines-crash-i-prayed-for-their-souls\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopian Airlines crash: \u2018I prayed for their souls\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
PRAYED\u2014 Wihib<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was just another Sunday morning for Atlaw Wihib.<\/p>\n

The 49-year-old was getting ready to attend Mass, as did many other residents in this small village of about 120 people in central Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

But all that was about to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was having breakfast before going to church when I saw a plane falling from the sky,\u201d<\/em> says Atlaw, a father of three.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On that very moment, at 8:44am, a burning Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet appeared in the clear blue skies above Adadi, speeding towards the semi-barren hills beyond the village.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard four large explosions. I have never heard anything that loud,\u201d<\/em> says Atlaw, whose village lies about 500 metres from the site where flight ET 302 crashed down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very scared but I ran to the field to check and I saw a shocking sight,\u201d<\/em> he adds, shaking his head in disbelief.<\/p>\n

\u201cBody parts were everywhere. Some were even burning. There was a massive fire.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ethiopian Airlines, Africa\u2019s largest air carrier, said everyone on board the flight, which had taken off six minutes earlier from Addis Ababa and was heading to Nairobi, was killed in the accident.<\/p>\n

More people died in the crash<\/a> \u2014 149 passengers and eight crew members\u2014than those living in Atlaw\u2019s village.<\/p>\n

The debris from the accident is strewn across a farm that has now become the centre of global attention. Investigators from across the world have descended on Adadi, sifting through the crash site to identify the remains of the victims, who were from 35 countries.<\/p>\n

The news triggered an outpouring of grief and sadness worldwide, while Ethiopia, which lost nine people in the crash, declared a day of national mourning.<\/p>\n

Late on Monday afternoon, a white helicopter kicks up a bowl of dust before disappearing beyond the hills in the distance. At least five excavators are busy at work.<\/p>\n

Heavily armed security officers are keeping an eye on the 100 or so spectators gathered near the scene, making sure no one trespasses, as emergency workers comb through the site holding see-through bin bags.<\/p>\n

A flock of black and white crows hang in the thin air on the lookout for food.\u2014 Al Jazeera<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was just another Sunday morning for Atlaw Wihib. The 49-year-old was getting ready to attend Mass, as did many other residents in this small village of about 120 people in central Ethiopia. But all that was about to change. \u201cI was having breakfast before going to church when I saw a plane falling from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75515,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75512\/revisions\/75515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}