At Ethiopia flight memorial, white roses mark passing of lives
Aviation staff gather to mourn colleagues
Addis Ababa — Bouquets of white roses surrounded aviation staff as they gathered at Bole International Airport on Sunday to remember the two pilots and six crew, who perished along with 149 passengers in the Ethiopia Airlines crash a week ago. Weeping women held slender single stems in their shaking hands. Banks of the white flowers, the traditional colour of mourning, were placed in front of a row of empty coffins at the ceremony. A band — some of the musicians in tears — temporarily stopped playing as band members ran to comfort bereaved relatives who lunged forward, wailing in grief over the coffins. “Our deep sorrow cannot bring them back,” an Orthodox priest in a traditional black turban and black robes told the crowd gathered outside an airport hangar. “This is the grief of the world,” he said, as Ethiopian Airlines staff sobbed in each other’s arms. At least the crash had taken place in Ethiopia — the holy land — he said, prompting “amens” from the crowd. In faraway Paris, in...
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