TULUFERA, Ethiopia (AP) – Grim-faced, visibly grief-stricken and some crying, hundreds of family members gathered Tuesday for a memorial service at the site where one year ago an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed into the rocky ground, killing all 157 on board.
The area of the disaster, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of Addis Ababa, the capital, was closed to the media as buses brought relatives of the victims to the commemoration, sponsored by Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing, the maker of the jet.
Residents of the rural Tulufera area, near Bishoftu, took a break from fetching water and milking cattle, to remember when the jet nose-dived into the earth.
“It was very chaotic and we were in distress,” Tsegaye Workineh, who said he was one of the first people to reach the crash site, told The Associated Press. “It is a sight that I will never forget in my entire life. You’re lucky that you haven’t seen it. It was very shocking.”
Big buses and smaller vehicles arrived on a newly built dirt road for the service where large tents have been erected.