A UNITED Nations worker has been named as one of the seven British passengers among the 157 people killed in yesterday’s Ethiopian Airlines plane crash.
Joanna Toole, a 36-year-old from Devon, was said to have been killed when the Boeing 737 Max-8 plane headed for Nairobi hit the ground six minutes after departing Addis Ababa yesterday morning.
The Foreign Office confirmed at least seven Brits had been on flight ET302, which crashed at about 8.45am local time and had no survivors.
Toole’s colleagues at the UN fisheries and aquaculture department said she was a “wonderful human being”, while her father, Adrian, called her a “very soft and loving” woman.
He said she was “genuinely one of those people who you never hear a bad word about”.
“Everybody was very proud of her and the work she did, we’re still in a state of shock,” he added.
Manuel Barange, a UN director, said he was “profoundly sad and lost for words” over her death, saying she had been travelling to Nairobi to represent the organisation at the UN Environment Assembly.
He tweeted: “A wonderful human being, who loved her work with a passion. Our love to her family and loved ones.”
The sole Irish victim of the crash was named by the UN as Michael Ryan, who is based in Rome for its World Food Programme (WFP).
A spokesman for the WFP – which distributes billions of rations yearly to those in need – said he could “very, very sadly confirm” that Ryan was among those killed.
Prime Minister Theresa May said she was “deeply saddened” by the crash, and offered her thoughts to everyone “affected by this tragic incident”.
Ethiopian Airlines said it had contacted the families of all victims, who came from 35 nations.
Victims’ identities began to emerge after Slovakian MP Anton Hrnko confirmed he was “in deep grief” over the deaths of his wife and two children.
Aid workers, doctors and a prominent football official were also believed to be among the dead.
The cause of the crash is not yet known.
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