Hong Kong environmental expert died in plane crash (2024)

Hong Kong citizen Victor Tsang Shing-ngai was one of the passengers killed in the plane crash Sunday, his alma mater theChinese University of Hong Kong said in a statement.

On his Twitter account, Tsang said "(my) profession is to advance sustainable development. Passion is to go camping with my 2.5-year-old son in our garden."

Tsang added that he speaks Chinese, English, French and Swahili. On his feed, he also championed gender equality:

Tsang had worked abroad in the nonprofit industry for years, the university said. At the time of his death, he was working for the United Nations in Kenya promoting environmental protection and sustainable development.

As the investigation into what brought down an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on Sunday continues, a handful of airlines have announced they are grounding their Boeing 737 MAX 8s -- the type of jet that crashed.

Singapore's decision appears to be the most far-reaching so far. The Singaporean aviation authority has temporarily barred all variants of the 737 MAX from entering or leaving the city-state.

Along with Singapore, the following airlines and jurisdictions have announced they are temporarily not using the 737 MAX 8: China, Indonesia, Ethiopian Airlines, Aeromexico, Cayman Airways, South Africa's Comair Airways, South Korea's Eastar Jet and Aerolíneas Argentinas. A running list of airlines and countries that have suspended the use of 787 MAX 8s can be found here.

The news has appeared to affect Boeing's bottom line. The aircraft maker's stock dropped 8% Monday, with investors voicing concerns about the 737 and Boeing's future in China Read more about why the grounding are such a big deal for Boeing here.

Ethiopian Airlines announced the plane's Digital Flight Data Recorder and co*ckpit Voice Recorder were found Monday. Both are considered important pieces of evidence to help investigators piece together the flight's last moments and explain why it crashed.

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Tuesday it would not ground the 737 MAX 8s operating in the country. But it did announce a raft of interim safety and maintenance measures for airlines operating that particular Boeing aircraft.

Only two Indian carriers have 737 MAX 8s in their fleets -- Spicejet has 12 and Jet Airways has five, according to the DGCA.

Fiji Airways will continue to using the two Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets in its fleet, the company said in a statement.

Fiji's national carrier said it had "full confidence" in its fleet's airworthiness and that it is in "close contact with Boeing" following Sunday's crash in Ethiopia.

Manisha Nukavarapu, a second-year resident physician at East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine, was among those killed in the plane crash Sunday, the school said in a statement.

"Those who knew her described her as a fine resident, a delightful person and dedicated physician. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues and patients at Quillen College of Medicine," the statement read.

Nukavarapu graduated from of Guntur Medical College in India. She was traveling to Kenya to visit relatives.

US Senator Richard Blumenthal has called on US authorities to ground all 737 MAX 8s "until the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) can assure American travelers that these planes are safe."

The FAA declined to ground the jets in the US, saying investigators have not yet determined whether the issue with the Ethiopian Airlines jet is related to the issue that brought down the the same type of plane operated by Lion Air in Indonesia last year.

"This investigation has just begun and to date we have not been provided data to draw any conclusions or take any actions," the FAA said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declined to ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 in the United States.

But it said it would mandate that American carriers install a software enhancement to the aircraft no later than next month, in response to last fall's Lion Air crash.

"For the past several months, and in the aftermath of Lion Air Flight 610, Boeing has been developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX, designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer," Boeing said.

"Boeing has been working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on development, planning and certification of the software enhancement, and it will be deployed across the 737 MAX fleet in the coming weeks."

Boeing has sent a technical team to the crash site to provide assistance to investigators.

Singapore's aviation authority has taken the strong move of suspending "all variants of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into and out of Singapore."

The suspension will start at 2 p.m., the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore announced on Tuesday morning. The move will affect SilkAir, a regional carrier in the city-state, and the following airlines that fly into Singapore and have the 737 MAX in their fleets: China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai Lion Air.

Singapore Airlines does not have any 737 MAX 8 planes.

The decision comes as Aerolíneas Argentinas announced it was grounding its five Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes. Argentina's national carrier said the decision had been "taken after the technical reports” following the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

The following is a current list of airlines and jurisdictions that have suspended use of the 737 MAX 8:

A running list of airlines and countries that have suspended the use of 787 MAX 8s can be found here.

The second fatal crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 in six months raises one huge question: Is the plane safe to fly?

Sunday's crash outside the Ethiopian capital of Addis Abba minutes after take-off came after a Lion Air jet went down last October, also minutes after leaving the tarmac. Both planes were brand new.

The similarities in the two crashes have left aviation safety experts and regulators around the world divided on whether the Boeing 737 MAX 8 is safe to fly.

"I've never said that it's unsafe to fly a particular model of aircraft, but in this case, I'm going to have to go there," said David Soucie, a former FAA safety inspector.

But Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said he believes it's too early for American authorities to ground the jets.

Read more here