Mourners participated in a mass funeral in Ethiopia on Sunday after last week’s deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash, but the coffins were empty because the remains of victims could take months to identify.
Relatives told the Associated Press they were given small sacks of soil from the site of the crash, which killed all 157 people aboard, instead of remains.
This angered some, especially Muslims families who want to bury the dead according to religious custom. In Islam, tradition calls for bodies to be interred as quickly as possible.
“The soil came as it became impossible to identify bodies and hand over remains to family members,” one family member said. “We will not rest until we are given the real body or body parts of our loved ones.”
Dagmawit Moges, Ethiopia’s transport minister, said at a press conference Saturday that it could take up to six months to identify victims.
Victims of the crash involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft include people from 35 countries, including the U.S., Kenya, Canada, China, and Italy.
The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded all Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes after the crash, which was the second one involving the plane in recent months.
