A popular Nigerian professor and columnist based in Canada, Pius Adesanmi, was onboard the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed in the early hours of Sunday, SaharaReporters can confirm.
It was reported that all the 157 persons on board an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed on Sunday morning are dead. There were 147 passengers and eight crew members on board the airline.
Recall that Ethiopian Airlines had announced that its flight ET 302/March 10 in schedule service from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved in an accident on Sunday around Bishoftu in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
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It said that the aircraft B-737-800MAX with registration number ET- AVJ took off at 8.3 a.m. local time from Addis Ababa, Bole International Airport and lost contact at 8.44 a.m.
One Nigerian was reported to have been involved in the crash.
Facts have now emerged that Mr Adesanmi, a native of Isanlu, in Yagba East Local Government area of Kogi state, was the Nigerian that lost his life during the crash.
Three different family members, plus a close friend of Adesanmi’s and a Canadian official, confirmed the sad development to SaharaReporters.
Until his death, Mr Adesanmi was a Professor of English at Carleton University.