The Associated Press (AP), a United States-based media house has explained why they did not mention Kenya on their reporting of Ethiopian Airlines crash that claimed 157 lives on March 10.
In a viral tweet that reported on the nationalities of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crash, AP did not mention Kenya despite having the highest number of casualties from the incident at 32.
In their breaking news post on social media, the AP only mentioned Canadians, Chinese, Americans, Italians, Indians, French, British, Egyptians as among those killed in the plane crash.
However, speaking to the Nation, Director of Media Relations at AP, Lauren Easton explained that the agency had already reported that Kenyans and Ethiopians had died in the crash.
She stated that the tweet was only providing additional information about the nationalities of other people on board.
“The tweet reflected the new development about the other nationalities,” Easton commented.
Furthermore, Easton added that AP had published and planned to continue publishing stories focusing on the trauma of Kenya and Ethiopia.
However, according to the Nation's investigations, no tweets were found on AP’s timeline to support her assertion.
There were at least 35 nationalities on board and regrettably Kenya had the highest number, with 32 passengers.
Other nationalities killed in the crash included eighteen Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Chinese, eight Italians, seven French, seven Britons and six Egyptians.
Four Indians, three Russians, two Moroccans, two Israelis, one Belgian, one Ugandan, one Yemeni, one Sudanese, one Togolese, one Mozambican and one Norwegian, one Nigerian, one Serbian, one Somali, one Saudi, also perished.
At least four victims carried UN passports.
