afrol News, 25 February - Ethiopian authorities have called for back-up in the investigation of the crash of the 25 January Ethiopian airlines off Beirut.

According to reports, Ethiopia’s transport and communications minister, Driba Kuma, has said the Lebanese government has been hiding relevant data to get political gain from the crash. He however did not give any further details, the reports said.

The Boeing 737 bound for Addis Ababa crashed in bad weather shortly after takeoff from Beirut, killing all 90 people on board.

Earlier this week, the head of Ethiopian Airlines accused the Lebanese authorities of spreading misinformation about the cause of last month's plane crash.

Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive, Girma Wake, said much of the information coming from Lebanon about the crash of flight ET409 has been purposely meant to mislead.

“There has been no official statement about the cause of the mishap. But Lebanese news agencies have quoted government ministers and sources close to the probe saying pilot error was to blame,” Mr Wake said.

"If you look at people who give out this information, these are people who are not part of the investigation," said Mr Wake.

The airline chief said investigators had declined to tell him what the recorder had revealed about the final moments of the ill-fated flight. But he said they assured him the quote had been fabricated.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories