The family of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 captain speaks out after deadly crash where 157 lost their lives

Michael Gottschalk/Photothek via Getty Images

• An Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed on Sunday morning minutes after take-off, killing all 157 people on board.
• Ethiopian Airlines Capt. Yared Getachew was the youngest to serve as a Boeing 737 captain in the airline’s history.
• Getachew’s family, some of whom are based in the US, released a statement on Sunday about the deceased pilot. 

 

An Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed on Sunday morning, killing all 157 people on board. The people on board were from 35 countries, including Kenya (32 victims), Canada (18), Ethiopia (9), and China, US, and Italy (8 victims each).

Read more: These are the victims of the Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia

Senior Capt. Yared Getachew was the captain of Flight 302, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement. He had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience and the airline described him as having "commendable performance." 

Hours after the crash, congressional staffer Adnan Mohamed, a relative of Getachew, released a statement on Twitter from his family. 

"My cousin was the one piloting this plane," Mohamed said on Twitter. "He was like a brother to me."

"With his impeccable record as a pilot, he was one of the youngest in Ethiopian Airlines history to captain a Boeing 737," the statement read. "As a confident captain, his seniority at Ethiopian Airlines comes with an accomplished record of 8,000 hours flight time, and has made us incredibly proud of his achievements."

Boeing, the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, and other international stakeholders are investigating the causes of the crash. Ethiopian Airlines said it is too early to speculate on the causes of the crash.

Now read: 

• Another Boeing 737 MAX 8 has crashed leaving no survivors. This time it was flying with Ethiopian Airlines
• People of 35 different nationalities were killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, including eight Americans
• China grounds all its Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes following the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash
• An Ethiopian Airlines passenger said he missed the crashed flight by 2 minutes: ‘I’m grateful to be alive’
• Boeing set to plunge 9% after fatal 737 MAX 8 crash killed 157 people in Ethiopia
• The black box from the crashed Ethiopian Airlines flight has been found
• Indonesia is grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes after a crash in Ethiopia killed 157 people
• Boeing’s big drop is shaving more than 200 points off the Dow
• Some countries and airlines have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 after a 2nd crash involving the plane killed 157 people — here’s who’s taken action so far
• These are the victims of the Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia
• A Georgetown University law student who reportedly expressed a fear of flying is among the 157 dead in the Ethiopian Airlines crash

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See Also:

• Some countries and airlines have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 after a 2nd crash involving the plane killed 157 people — here’s who’s taken action so far
• Another Boeing 737MAX has crashed leaving no survivors. This time it was flying with Ethiopian Airlines.
• ‘It feels like a morgue’: Tesla employees say morale has fallen drastically as stores close and workers are let go

SEE ALSO: Some countries and airlines have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 after a second crash involving the plane that killed 157 people — here’s who’s taken action so far

Source: Business Insider – rpremack@businessinsider.com (Rachel Premack)