As the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) kicked off in Nairobi, Kenya on March 11, 2019, the UN senior official together with the delegates observed a moment of silence as they mourned their colleagues among other victims of the Ethiopian plane that crashed on Sunday morning. The UN flag flew at half-mast.

Maimunah Sharif, the Acting Director-General of UNON, said 22 United Nations personnel lost their lives in the crash.

"I stand before you this morning with a very heavy heart, as we mourn the loss of our sisters and brothers, our colleagues, delegates and members of the United Nations family in the tragic Ethiopian Airlines 302 plane crash, which transpired yesterday morning," she said.

Sharif said in the wake of the tragedy, it has been difficult to navigate how to proceed without showing disrespect to the many lives lost yesterday.

"I want to assure you all however, that as the day and week unfolds, and the world's global environmental leaders meet to discuss the future of our planet, we will not forget this tragedy, nor those that perished in it," she said.

Sharif said the United Nations office at Nairobi is ready to support all those touched by the tragedy, with the support of its headquarters.

He said counsellors had been made available in Nairobi, Addis Ababa and Geneva and that call centres will also be established.

"As we mourn, let us reflect that our colleagues were willing to travel and work far from their homes and loved ones to help make the world a better place to live," she said.

She added, "I would also like to express, on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, who called me at PM 11:23 last night, to convey his condolences and solidarity with all of us at this tragic moment."

Joyce Msuya, the Acting Executive Director of UN Environment said the environmental community was mourning the loss of UN staffs and youth delegates who were en route to participate in UNEA.

"Please allow me to begin by expressing our condolences to the victims and all those affected by the Ethiopian airlines crash yesterday. You are all in our thoughts this week," she said.

Siim Kiisler, the President of UNEA and the Estonia's Minister of Environment on his part said, "I would like to express my condolences to those who have lost loved ones in the crash."

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Airlines announced in a press release that the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of ET302 had been recovered.

"Ethiopia has continued monitoring the situation closely with all stakeholders and is providing all the necessary support to the families of the deceased in its temporarily established family assistance centers in Addis Ababa and Nairobi Airports," the statement read.

The cause of the crash is expected to be found from the black box data.

Following the tragic accident, Ethiopian Airlines Group announced that it had suspended the commercial operations of all Boeing 737- Max 8 aircraft with immediately effect. China and Indonesia also announced grounding of the aircraft model.

The crash was the second to involve the latest model of Boeing 737-Max 8, after another aircraft operated by Indonesia Lion Air crashed in October 2018, soon after taking off from Jakarta. The plane killed 189 passengers including the crew.