This is how you can help support families impacted by the Ethiopian Airlines crash

Tributes and condolences continue to pour in for the 157 people who lost their lives when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed Sunday near Addis Ababa.

The global tragedy claimed the lives of everyone on board, which included 149 passengers and eight crew members. The victims were of 35 different nationalities, including 18 Canadians.

Many of the passengers were heading to a United Nation’s environmental conference in Nairobi.

Flight ET 302 took off on the morning of March 10 at 8:38 am local time from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on route to Nairobi, Kenya. The airport lost contact with the plane just six minutes later at 8:44 am.

According to the airline, the plane underwent “rigorous first check maintenance” on February 4, 2019, and was piloted by a senior captain.

The cause of the crash is currently unknown.

See also

• BC man identified as one of the victims in deadly plane crash
• Calgary man among 18 Canadians lost in Ethiopian Airlines crash
• Brampton family confirmed among victims of Ethiopian plane crash
• Toronto woman among 18 Canadians lost in Ethiopian Airline crash
• 18 Canadians among the dead after Ethiopian Airlines flight crashes just after takeoff

Verified GoFundMe campaigns have since been set up to support a number of the families and friends affected by the crash.

This includes the Vaidya family of Brampton.

Pannagesh Vaidya, his wife, Hansini Vaidya, their daughter Kosha Vaidya, her husband Prerit Dixit, and their two girls, 14-year-old Ashka and 13-year-old Anushka were all passengers on the flight.

A GoFundMe campaign has since been set up to ease the “financial burden” the Vaidya’s family members now face.

Angela Rehhorn, of Orillia, ON, was one of the passengers on their way to participate in the United Nations’ Environmental Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.

A campaign has been set up by Rehhorn’s former Orillia Channel Cats alumni to help raise funds for the Rehhorn family, to adopt a whale in Rehhorn’s name, and to support the Couchiching Conservancy and Canadian Wildlife Federation in her memory.

Amina Ibrahim Odowa of Edmonton was travelling with her five-year-old daughter, Sofia when the plane went down.

Odowa leaves behind two daughters aged seven and three-years-old.

A campaign has been set up by Odowa’s family-friends to raise funds to support her children and to help offset any financial needs.

23-year-old Micah Messent, who was from Vancouver Island, was on his way to attend the UN conference.

A campaign has been set up by his family and friends to serve as an ongoing tribute to his memory. The funds will be dispersed into his areas of passion: environmental initiatives and Indigenous youth education and support.

Derick Lwugi, an accountant who had been working for the City of Calgary, was also on board.

Danielle Moore, who was originally from Toronto, was another passenger on their way to attend the United Nations Environment Assembly in Kenya.

The plane involved in the devastating crash was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, the same make and model of a plane that went down in Indonesia in October 2018.

However, despite the two fatal crashes over the past five months, Canadian airlines will not be grounding their Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleets.

Since the news of the crash, China has decided to ground all of its 737 fleet, joining Ethiopian Airlines which grounded its similar fleet soon after the accident.

In Canada, the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register shows airlines here have 41 of the Boeing 737 model. Of those, 24 belong to Air Canada, 13 to WestJet, and 4 to Sunwing.

The airlines say they are confident in the safety of the fleet, however, Canadian travellers are concerned the airlines still haven’t grounded the model.

Following the tragic crash, the Boeing Company said it’s been developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX over the past several months.

According to the company, this has been in the works since the loss of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia on October 29, 2018.

The new enhancement is allegedly designed to make the aircraft even safer.