After the Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet crash on Sunday morning, reports from the airlines authority indicated that out of the 157 who died in the accident, one was a Uganda national.
The flight ET 302, on its way to Nairobi from Addis Ababa, crashed six minutes after take-off. It ploughed into a field near Tulu Fara village outside the town of Bishoftu, some 60km (40 miles) southeast of the Ethiopian capital.
Shortly after the development, death reports started making round on social media indicating that Commissioner of Police Christine Alalo who works with AMISOM in Somalia was the Ugandan who died on board. But Asan Kasingye, the Uganda Police Chief Political Commissar was not far to water down the claim saying that the reports were fake and that Alalo had used Turkish Airlines.
Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga also issued a statement saying they have not yet confirmed Alalo’s death.
Later in the day, another report stated that the actual victim was a one Amos Namanya.
Namanya who hails from Kiruhura district was working for United Nations(UN) in Mogadishu, Somalia.
His family confirmed the development.
On the other hand, earlier today, Simon Mulongo, Uganda’s Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia also confirmed that indeed Alalo was also on board and that she lost her life in the tragedy.
According to Mulongo, she had earlier communicated with her driver and instructed him to pick her up from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at 10am since the plane was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 am.
Well it may be true that the two Ugandans died on board since both worked for international organizations (African Union and UN) one of them may have used the UN passport meaning he/she was counted among the 19 UN workers who lost their lives in the tragedy.
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