Ethiopian Airlines crash: British aid worker Sam Pegram identified as one of 157 passengers and crew killed

Aa aid worker from Lancashire has been identified as one of nine Britons who died when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed.

Sam Pegram, 25, who worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, was on his way to Kenya's capital Nairobi, when the Boeing 737 Max 8 came down shortly after taking off, killing all 157 people on board.

The aid worker, who had been based in Geneva, had previously helped refugees in Jordan.

Mr Pegram's former school, Penwortham Priory Academy, tweeted: “Unfortunately and with great sadness, we have been informed that Sam Pegram, a former pupil of Priory, was one of the Ethiopian airline passengers. Staff who taught Sam will remember him with great fondness and our deepest condolences go to Sam’s family at this difficult time.”

Mr Pegram’s parents described their son as “so very special” and said they were devastated by his death.

Also among the British victims on board the flight was Joanna Toole, 36, from Exmouth, in Devon, was on the plane heading to Nairobi to attend the UN Environment Assembly.

Irishman Michael Ryan was among seven dead from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), which distributes huge amounts of rations every year to those in need.

The Rome-based aid worker and engineer, known as Mick, who was formerly from Lahinch in Co Clare, was believed to have been married with two children.

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Joseph Waithaka, a 55-year-old who lived in Hull for a decade before moving back to his native Kenya, also died in the crash.

Polar expert Sarah Auffret died on the flight as she made her way to Nairobi to talk about a Clean Seas project, her Norway-based employers Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) said.

Norwegian media reported that the University of Plymouth graduate was a French-British dual national.

AECO said in a statement: “Sarah was on her way to Nairobi to talk about the Clean Seas project in connection with the UN Environment Assembly this week.

“Words cannot describe the sorrow and despair we feel. We have lost a true friend and beloved colleague.”

The Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed six minutes after taking off from the capital Addis Ababa.

Both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered from the wreckage.

While the cause is not yet known, the crash shared similarities with last year’s Lion Air jet crash in the Java Sea, which killed 189. That also involved a 737 Max 8 crashing minutes after take-off.

Several airlines serving UK airports are continuing to fly the aircraft model involved in the deadly crash, despite it being grounded in several countries including China, Indonesia and Ethiopia.