Greek man misses Ethiopian Airlines flight, shocked at tragedy

A Greek man missed the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed on Sunday shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa airport, killing all 157 people on board, Greek media reported.

Antonis Mavropoulos, president of the International Solid Waste Association, a non-profit organization, was supposed to board the plane bound for Nairobi, Kenya, which crashed about 45 km southeast of the Ethiopian capital, he told Greek television channel Alpha.

Mavropoulos reached the gate only two minutes after it was closed. He recalled feeling mad watching behind the glass wall other passengers boarding the aircraft.

Mavropoulos was about to board another plane when airport staff told him that the aircraft he missed had gone missing. He was shocked when he was later informed about the tragedy.

"This is one of those moments which are changing one's perspective of life... You realize that our lives are hanging from threads... I just want to send many kisses to my wife, my mother and my daughter," he told Alpha during a telephone conversation.