Winnipeggers pack prayer service to mourn victims of Ethiopian Airlines crash

Hundreds of people joined in a prayer service with Winnipeg'sEthiopian and Eritrean communities Sunday, rememberingvictims and praying for families who lost loved ones on Ethiopia AirlinesFlight 302 last weekend.

TheEthiopian Orthodox Church on Mountain Avenue hosted the special service, packed with prayer and song, to help cope with the tragic loss.

"We just did a prayer for everyone that died in that plane crash, which is very sad, I'm very emotional about it," saidTigist Aderu.

"It's not just Ethiopians who died, it's everyone fromthe world; and it just shows us that we're all the same people, it doesn't matter where you live, it all impacts everyone," she said."Somebody's mom, somebody's child, somebody's brother, somebody's husband, from different countries, died at the same time. It's very devastating."

"The people that died, they are in heaven.But the people that stayed here, the families it's one of those tragedies that it's hard to make sense, even for the believers," Aderu added.

She hopes the families will be able to move on.

Congregation co-chair Daniel Basrat said many local families were devastated when they heard about the crash, even if they had no personal connection to the victims.

"It's like family members we lost," he said."It doesn't matter where they are coming [from], it doesn't matter, because we are all human beings."

"It's something that's close to home, but it shows that humanity is fragile. It's not only about [157] people, it's about more than a thousand people because there are friends, families."

All 157 people on Flight 302, which departed last Sunday morning from Addis Ababa for Nairobi, Kenya, were killed after the plane ran into trouble only six minutes after takeoff. Passengers came frommore than 30 countries; 18 were Canadians, including one woman who had been living in Winnipeg.

In Addis Ababa Sunday,thousands gathered Sunday for a similar service.

Watch a report from Sunday's service in Addis Ababa:

Ethiopia air crash funerals

6 years ago

Duration 1:09

The CBC's Susan Ormiston reports from a memorial service on Sunday in Addis Ababa for the victims of the Ethiopia Airlines crash.

Basrat said the community is coming together in its tragedy.

"It doesn't matter what face you have, what religion you are following, from which part of the city or the country that you come.It's a human thing," he said.

"It feels so to the bottom of your heart, that you can't just ignore this thing. It's just like losing your family member."