Devon woman among 157 feared dead after Ethiopian plane crash

An East Devon woman is among 157 people feared dead after a plane crash in Ethiopia today (March 10).

The family of Joanna Toole, 36, have been told she was among the passengers of the Ethiopian Airlines flight which crashed this morning shortly after taking off from Bole Airport, Addis Ababa.

The flight left the Ethiopian capital at 8.38am local time (6.38am GMT) but lost contact with air traffic control six minutes later.

Joanna's father, Adrian Toole, was contacted by her partner late this morning after he confirmed Joanna was on the flight with Ethiopian Airlines.

Adrian paid tribute to his daughter, a consultant on marine animal welfare, saying the family were 'stunned' by the news.

"Joanna was a very soft and loving person. I remember when she was at Exmouth Community College she had a meeting with a careers advisor and told him that she wanted to work with animals.

"The advisor advised her against it but Joanna was undaunted, I can still remember how she worked, as a child, to protect a badger set near her Exmouth family home."

Joanna, who worked for the UN agency FAO and lived in Rome, was on her way to Kenya to conduct a workshop with Kenyan fisherman on the marking of fishing nets as a method of reducing marine debris. Joanna's project had recently been adopted by the UN.

"Everybody was very proud of her and the work she did, we're still in a state of shock" said Adrian.

"She never had any doubt that she wanted to work in animal welfare and on the international scene, that meant a lot of travel. It's hard to imagine life without her.

"We've been told there are no survivors, so we're guessing this is the end."

Adrian and the rest of Joanna's family are now waiting to hear if her body can be recovered and returned to the UK.

According to the airline, Flight ET 302 crashed near the town of Bishoftu, roughly 40 miles south-east of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

An airline spokesman said: "Search and rescue operations are in progress and we have no confirmed information about survivors or possible casualties."