Kenyan football administrator Hussein Swaleh has gone missing following the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, which claimed the lives of all 157 passengers and crew aboard. The Boeing 737-800MAX, registered as ET-AVJ, crashed shortly after departing Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, with 33 nationalities represented among the victims.
Swaleh, who served as match commissioner for the Caf Champions League encounter between Egyptian club Ismailia and DR Congo's TP Mazembe in Cairo, was returning to Kenya when the disaster occurred. Ethiopian Airlines confirmed the plane lost contact six minutes after takeoff, with the crash site located near Bishoftu, formerly Debre-Zeit.
The airline announced plans to establish an information center and provide contact details for affected families. This incident marks the second major crash involving the 737-800MAX model, following the October 2018 Lion Air disaster. Ethiopian Airlines also referenced a 2010 accident involving a Boeing 737-800 that exploded after departing Lebanon, killing 90 people.
Kenya's Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia confirmed a government team had been dispatched to Ethiopia. Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam stated the pilot had requested to return to Bole airport before losing contact, though the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.
