No survivors found in Lebanon plane crash

Reporting from Beirut — 

Rescue workers found no one to save. They could only retrieve the corpses of those aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea early Monday during a fierce winter storm.

The Boeing 737-800 bound for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, was carrying eight crew members and 82 passengers when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Beirut amid hail and thunder. The U.S.-born wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon was among the passengers.

By nightfall, rescue workers had recovered about 25 bodies, the Lebanese transportation minister said.

Authorities have not yet found the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, or black boxes, that could yield clues about the cause of the crash. But officials said the ferocious overnight storm that blanketed the small country’s mountains with snow was probably a major factor.

“Bad weather was apparently the cause of the crash,” Defense Minister Elias Murr told reporters, according to local news outlets. “We have ruled out foul play so far.”

Lebanon’s airport has been a subject of controversy because of allegations that the Shiite Muslim political group Hezbollah maintains a security presence there to oversee the importation of weapons. No flights originating in Lebanon land in North America, largely because of security concerns.

But Lebanese and Ethiopian officials discounted the possibility of terrorism or sabotage in the downing of the plane. A spokesman for the Addis Ababa government said the airline had received no threats.

“As of now, an act of sabotage is unlikely,” Lebanese President Michel Suleiman told reporters.

The crew of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 lost contact with Lebanese air traffic control shortly after takeoff at 2:35 a.m., officials said.

“The control tower was assisting the pilot of the plane on takeoff and suddenly lost contact for no known reason,” Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters.

The Lebanese army said witnesses had seen the 737 catch fire before plunging into the sea five miles off the coastal town of Naameh.

Lebanese naval and air force units, along with ships attached to the long-standing U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, continued relief and rescue operations late Monday, the army said.

Marla Sanchez Pietton, wife of the recently appointed French envoy to Lebanon, Denis Pietton, was a native of the United States, friends said. According to the airline, the passengers also included 54 Lebanese and 23 Ethiopians.

Images broadcast on local television showed ships and a helicopter at sea, presumably near the crash site, and distraught relatives and friends of the passengers weeping in agony inside the airport. Many Ethiopians work as maids and nannies in Lebanon.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who toured the crash site by helicopter, declared Monday a day of mourning in honor of those who perished.

“This is a tragedy for Lebanon, and we are working to find the missing passengers,” he told reporters. “There are many theories, but the truth will be revealed by that black box.”

daragahi@latimes.com