The family of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 captain speaks out after deadly crash where 157 lost their lives

Michael Gottschalk/Photothek via Getty Images

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed Sunday morning, and 157 people from 35 countries died.

• An Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed on Sunday morning minutes after take-off, killing all 157 people on board.
• Ethiopian Airlines Capt. Yared Getachew was the youngest to serve as a Boeing 737 captain in the airline's history.
• Getachew's family, some of whom are based in the US, released a statement on Sunday about the deceased pilot. 

An Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed on Sunday morning, killing all 157 people on board. The people on board were from 35 countries, including Kenya (32 victims), Canada (18), Ethiopia (9), and China, US, and Italy (8 victims each).

Read more: These are the victims of the Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia

Senior Capt. Yared Getachew was the captain of Flight 302, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement. He had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience and the airline described him as having "commendable performance." 

Hours after the crash, congressional staffer Adnan Mohamed, a relative of Getachew, released a statement on Twitter from his family. 

"My cousin was the one piloting this plane," Mohamed said on Twitter. "He was like a brother to me."

"With his impeccable record as a pilot, he was one of the youngest in Ethiopian Airlines history to captain a Boeing 737," the statement read. "As a confident captain, his seniority at Ethiopian Airlines comes with an accomplished record of 8,000 hours flight time, and has made us incredibly proud of his achievements."

Boeing, the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, and other international stakeholders are investigating the causes of the crash. Ethiopian Airlines said it is too early to speculate on the causes of the crash.