UN says crash in Ethiopia ‘one of the biggest catastrophes we have had in years’

The Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed over the weekend killed at least 22 people from the United Nations or related agencies, leading Michael Moller, the director-general of the U.N. headquarters in Geneva to describe it as “one of the biggest catastrophes we have had in years.”

{mosads}More than 150 passengers overall were killed in the crash, which has raised questions about the Boeing 737 Max 8 jet that was traveling from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya.

The New York Times reported that many of the passengers were workers for humanitarian organizations and that the victims came from 30 different countries. 

Dozens of the passengers on the flight were set to attend a U.N. Environment Assembly that starts Monday in Nairobi, Kenya.

Moller held a minute of silence with more than 150 U.N. personnel at the headquarters Monday.

The flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa and had no survivors. The cause of the deadly crash was yet to be determined on Monday.