A UN official says they expect above a dozen passengers affiliated with the United Nations were on the Ethiopian Airlines jet, some of whom were expected to attend a major United Nations environmental meeting scheduled to start tomorrow in Nairobi.
It is understood that 35 different nationalities were aboard the flight and among the list of backgrounds were passengers from China (8), the United States (8), Italy (8), France (7), UK (7), Egypt (6), Germany (5), Slovakia (4), Austria (3), Sweden (3) and Russia (3), with more to be announced.
A group from France representing members of the African diaspora in Europe are mourning the loss of their well-beloved co-members who were on an official mission to represent the African Diaspora Youth Forum.
Among the Italians was Paolo Dieci, one of the founders of the International Committee for the Development of Peoples, and Sebastiano Tusa, the Sicilian regional assessor to the Italian Culture Ministry.
The World Food Program confirmed to Associated Press that two of the Italian victims worked for the Rome-based UN agency.
A lawmaker of Slovak Parliament said his wife, daughter and son were killed in the crash. Anton Hrnko, a legislator for the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party, said he was "in deep grief" over the deaths of his wife, Blanka, son, Martin, and daughter, Michala.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has identified the Irishman who died in the Ethiopian Airlines flight as engineer Michael Ryan.
The Prime Minister tweeted, "Michael was doing life-changing work in Africa with the World Food Program".
The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it received the news of retired Ambassador Abiodun Oluremi Bashu's death, Bashu was on contract with the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa.
A MFAT spokesperson told 1 NEWS they are in contact with The Embassy but it is believed that there were no New Zealanders on the flight.
23 New Zealanders are registered on SafeTravel as being in Ethiopia and 43 registered as being in Kenya.
All New Zealanders in Addis Ababa are advised to follow the advice of local authorities by registering their details on www.safetravel.govt.nz
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