Derrick Lwugi, a pillar of Calgary’s Kenyan community, was one of 18 Canadian victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash Sunday.
Flight ET302 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa around 8:45 a.m. local time, killing all 157 people on board. The Boeing 737 Max 8 was destined for Nairobi.
Lwugi, 53, an accountant for the city and founder of the Kenyan Community in Calgary group, was on the flight, a family friend confirmed to CBC News.
He volunteered as an assistant pastor and sat on the board of the non-profit Abeingo Association Canada.
Lwugi leaves behind a wife and three children.
Carleton University professor Pius Adesanmi and a mother-daughter pair from Edmonton, Amina Ibrahim Odowa, 33, and her daughter Sofia Abdulkadir, 5, and Winnipeg activist Danielle Moore are among the Canadian victims.
It’s not yet known what caused the plane to crash.
People walk past a part of the wreckage at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday. (Tiksa Negeri/Reuters )
It was the second fatal crash in five months involving the new Boeing model, after a Lion Air flight crashed into the Java Sea in October, killing 189 people.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley tweeted her condolences for the victims’ loved ones, and urged Canadians who knew travellers on the flight to contact emergency consular services.
My thoughts are with the loved ones of the 157 victims – including the 18 Canadians – who lost their lives in the Ethiopian Airlines crash this morning.<br>If you know someone who may have been on the flight, contact sos@international.gc.ca or 613-996-8885.<a href=”https://t.co/QKqP6pOABd”>https://t.co/QKqP6pOABd</a>
—@RachelNotley