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UNHCR / GRANDI PLANE CRASH REAX
STORY: UNHCR / GRANDI PLANE CRASH REAX
TRT: 2:00
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 11 MARCH 2019, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Today we commemorate 157 lives lost in the terrible air crash in Ethiopia yesterday. Many of those people who lost their lives were members of the UN and aid community, and three of them were UNHCR colleagues, colleagues from my organization. And today here in Geneva, we mourn them particularly. They were, all three of them – Nadia [Adam Abaker Ali, from Sudan], Jackson [Musoni, from Rwanda], and Jessica [Hyba, from Canada] – very devoted staff members. All three were working in difficult environments – two of them, Darfur, Sudan; Jessica, Somalia. And somehow, the aid community has been particularly impacted by this tragic loss of lives, but also it has brought it together in the awareness that people like Nadia, like Jessica, like Jackson, have devoted their entire lives to other people in distress – refugees, people in need. But it is also an opportunity to reflect on the fact that these people were good parents, had small children. So we’re particularly close to their families, to their friends. They were well respected throughout the organization and beyond. So it is a very sad occasion, but also an occasion for us to come together to celebrate the lives of generous and devoted and committed people, and to draw from their example the strength to overcome their loss and the energy to continue to work in support of the people we serve.”
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Monday expressed deep sadness on behalf of the UN Refugee Agency following the death of three staff members who were on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed a day earlier.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Today we commemorate 157 lives lost in the terrible air crash in Ethiopia yesterday. Many of those people who lost their lives were members of the UN and aid community, and three of them were UNHCR colleagues, colleagues from my organization. And today here in Geneva, we mourn them particularly. They were, all three of them – Nadia [Adam Abaker Ali, from Sudan], Jackson [Musoni, from Rwanda], and Jessica [Hyba, from Canada] – very devoted staff members. All three were working in difficult environments – two of them, Darfur, Sudan; Jessica, Somalia. And somehow, the aid community has been particularly impacted by this tragic loss of lives, but also it has brought it together in the awareness that people like Nadia, like Jessica, like Jackson, have devoted their entire lives to other people in distress – refugees, people in need. But it is also an opportunity to reflect on the fact that these people were good parents, had small children. So we’re particularly close to their families, to their friends. They were well respected throughout the organization and beyond. So it is a very sad occasion, but also an occasion for us to come together to celebrate the lives of generous and devoted and committed people, and to draw from their example the strength to overcome their loss and the energy to continue to work in support of the people we serve.”
All 157 people aboard flight ET 302 from Ethiopian Airlines, en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya, were killed on Sunday when the plane crashed in Ethiopia shortly after takeoff. The three UNHCR staff identified among the victims are Nadia Adam Abaker Ali, from Sudan; Jessica Hyba, from Canada; and Jackson Musoni, from Rwanda.
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