Ethiopia is ready to build additional laboratories to facilitate the identification of the bodies found at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX if needed, with the process itself expected to take half a year, Mehreteab Mulugeta, the director general for European affairs at the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2019) Ethiopia is ready to build additional laboratories to facilitate the identification of the bodies found at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX if needed, with the process itself expected to take half a year, Mehreteab Mulugeta, the director general for European affairs at the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik in an interview.
The Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed soon after taking off from Addis Ababa on March 10. All 157 people from 35 countries who were on board were killed. The causes of the accident are yet to be determined.
"So far we don't see any need to build any laboratories because so far they are using whatever exists there. But if there is a need to build any additional laboratories or to bring to the country any additional technology or technical assistance, they [the Ethiopian authorities] will do so, so it will satisfy the need of the international standard," Mulugeta said.
According to the diplomat, the identification process is not easy, with Ethiopian Airlines cooperating on the issue with internationally renowned Blake Emergency Services, Interpol as well as the countries whose citizens were killed in the crash. Boeing and the United States are also involved in the process, he added.
"It needs rigorous work because it needs very specific identification and verification process. That is why, it will take half a year," Mulugeta said.
Asked whether Ethiopia planned to somehow overhaul the system of pilots' training in the wake of reports that the co-pilot of the crashed plane had just 200 hours of flight experience, he said that the hours did not matter as the airline's pilots "undergo a very strict training program."
"I don't think Ethiopian Airlines is short of a training system for pilots because we know that this pilot was capable of flying this aircraft," the diplomat said.
He added that the first officer in question had been trained by the flying school that trains pilots from across Africa.
"Ethiopian Airlines has a long history with its training school. It trains almost for all African countries. It has been there for the last 50-60 years as a training center. So there is quite a good experience of training pilots. This co-pilot was trained and qualified to fly 737 aircraft," Mulugeta reiterated.
The brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed just six minutes after takeoff. According to Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam, the pilot reported "flight control problems" after takeoff and asked for permission to return to Addis Ababa.
The tragedy happened less than five months after a similar deadly crash involving a Boeing of the same model in Indonesia, which left 189 people dead. In the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, aviation authorities and airlines around the world have either grounded their 737 MAX 8 aircraft or closed their airspace to them.
