19 UN staff members killed in Ethiopian Boeing 737 MAX crash

19 United Nations staff members were among the 157 victims of the Ethiopian Airlines jet crash on Sunday, the UN Department of Safety and Security in Kenya said. The UN Office in Nairobi (UNON) and World Food Program (WFP) have lost six people each, with other casualties coming from the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNHCR), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Organization for Migration (IOM) in South Sudan, World Bank and UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). The Boeing 737 MAX 8, traveling from Bole airport in Addis Ababa to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, lost contact with the control tower a few minutes after takeoff and hit the ground, killing everyone on board. It’s the second tragedy in less than half-a-year involving this new model of the popular plane; another Boeing 737 MAX crashed in Indonesia last October.