Two fatal crashes which involved commercial airplanes have occurred this weekend in Colombia and Ethiopia; and of the combined reported total of 171 people who were aboard both airplanes, no survivors have been reported or found in either incident.
Two Fatal Airplane Crashes Occur; No Survivors Reported in Either Incident
In the first incident, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft — which operated as a Laser Aéreo Colombia flight carrying 12 passengers and two pilots from San José del Guaviare to Villavicencio within Colombia — lost altitude and crashed on the ground prior to landing at 10:40 in the morning on Saturday, March 9, 2019.
#InformaciónOficial con respecto al accidente de aeronave ocurrido esta mañana en la Vereda La Bendición, en cercanías a Villavicencio. pic.twitter.com/pLcxUcSRAj
— Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia (@AeroCivilCol) March 9, 2019
The airplane burst into flames upon impact. The wreckage of the aircraft was found, located approximately 2.2 nautical miles south of the aerodrome.
This video is reportedly of the crash of the airplane in question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENRM6aLSrn0
Ethiopian Airlines Incident
A Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft — which operated as Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi — crashed approximately six minutes after takeoff on Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 8:38 in the morning; and no survivors have been reported amongst the 149 passengers or eight members of the flight crew.
The airplane was a relatively new one, as its first flight occurred on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.
Accident Bulletin no. 1
Issued on march 10, 2019 at 11:00am
Ethiopian Airlines will release further information as soon as it is available. Updated information will also be on Ethiopian Airlines website at https://t.co/Je7pXoKxHh pic.twitter.com/07wKZHPVPl— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) March 10, 2019
The crash site is near Bishoftu in Ethiopia, which is approximately 17 nautical miles south southeast of Addis Ababa. Both radio contact and radar contact with the aircraft were lost at 8:44 in the morning.
Summary
The cause of either crash had not yet been identified at the time this article was written. If any additional information is reported in either tragic incident, I intend to update the details in a future article.
In the meantime, my prayers go out to those passengers and members of the flight crew who perished in both incidents; and my thoughts and condolences go out to their family, friends and colleagues.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
