On 10 March 2019, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft destined for Nairobi from Addis Ababa crashed in an open field six minutes near the town of Bishoftu after take-off killing all 157 passengers and crew on board.
The BBC deployed one of its most experienced journalists in security reporting, Emmanuel Igunza. Years later, Igunza reflects on the horrific crash that tore his heart apart.
“To this day, this is the most tragic and hardest story I have had to cover as a journalist.”
I remember very well that Sunday morning, we got a message on WhatsApp that a plane had crashed.
It was going to be the day’s biggest story, so we had to prepare to travel to Addis immediately.
We went there, and the first thing that struck me was that there was no visible sign of the plane wreckage. Instead, what we saw was this big hole. It is where the plane hit the ground, dug inside maybe 20,30 feet, and exploded.
We found some emergency people gathering personal belongings over the crash site.
“I saw body parts taken in white bags, and it was devastating to see families coming to the site and mourning and throwing themselves on the ground and crying, and you could just feel their pain as they mourned their loved ones.”
At that moment, as a journalist, you struggle with telling the story or just giving those families the time and opportunity to mourn.
The first things I saw at the scene were a British passport and a laptop. Materials that included parts of the plane were strewn all over the place.
The rescue effort continued for days running into weeks, and months later, there was the process of identifying the body parts through DNA. Eventually, many of the body parts were identified and matched.
It was particularly tough to interview one gentleman who lost five members of this family. How do you even set up an interview with someone who has lost a wife, a son, and three grandchildren-devastating!
It was an emotional moment that pushed me to the core as a journalist”.
