No Bodies to Bury, Families of Ethiopian Airlines Plane Crash Victims Told

Families of the 157 people who perished in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash on Sunday are devastated following news that they may not get their kin's remains for burial.

Speaking during an interview with BBC, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam says that most of the bodies were reduced to ashes and only a few remains have been recovered.

“By the time I reached the site on Sunday the plane was completely underground and there was no sign of it above the ground. We had to dig up the wreckage to try and find bodies."

“It is very sad that we were not able to get bodies. We only have very small pieces of the remains. That is the main challenge we have now,” Gebremariam says.

On Thursday, family members who flew to Ethiopia with hopes of identifying their kin stormed out of a meeting with Ethiopian Airlines officials at the Skylight Hotel near Bole International Airport.

They were protesting what they call delay of information regarding the identification of bodies. They further lamented a lack of transparency in the whole exercise.

“We wanted to be told about DNA identification but they told us nothing. They were just offering condolences,” a Kenyan who lost her sister told journalists outside the hotel.

“I’m actually going home today because there is nothing here.”

Earlier the airline company announced that the identification of bodies might take longer than expected.

“The process of identifying the victims will take at least five days,” Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson Asrat Begashawt told reporters.

"However, due to the impact and the ensuing fire, the identification of some remains could take weeks or months and may need to be done via dental records on DNA."

Black box recorders recovered from the crash scene have since been flown to France for advanced analysis.

“The Ethiopian delegation led by the Chief investigator of Accident Investigation Bureau has arrived in the French Safety Investigation (BEA) facilities and the investigation process has started in Paris,” the airline says.

32 Kenyan nationals lost their lives in the crash that occurred six minutes after the plane took off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.