China confirms death of eight Chinese citizens in Ethiopian airliner crash

BEIJING, Mar 11 (APP):A Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesman on Monday confirmed the death of eight Chinese citizens in a crash of a passenger plane of Ethiopian Airlines which was flying from Addis Ababa to Kenyan capital, causing the death of all 157 people including the crew members.
“We are deeply saddened by this incident and express our deep condolences to all the victims and to the families of the victims. President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders have sent condolences to the leaders of Ethiopia and Kenya,” Lu Kang said during his regular briefing held here.
He said after the incident, the Chinese party and state leaders attached great importance to it and were very concerned about the situation involving Chinese citizens in the air crash.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia immediately carried out related work. The Embassy has established a coordination and liaison mechanism with Ethiopian authorities, and has contacted the families of the Chinese citizens who have been killed, and actively assisted the families of the victims.
Lu Kang said at present, the eight Chinese citizens who died in the trial were initially confirmed. Four of them are employees of Chinese companies, two are the international staff of the United Nations system, and the other two are from Liaoning and Zhejiang, respectively, for private travel.
He said that Ethiopian Prime Minister has visited the crash site and expressed deep condolences to the victims and also promised to provide necessary assistance to the families of the victims and ordered a comprehensive investigation to ascertain the reason of the accident.