One Kenyan man has suffered a major loss after five of his family members died in the Ethiopia Airline crash of Sunday which killed all 149 passengers and eight crew members on board.

Among those who lost their lives were 32 Kenyans who were aboard the ill-fated Boeing 737 aircraft which crashed a few minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.

Kelvin Karanja lost his mother, sister and three children who were travelling from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi to meet the rest of the family.

Karanja’s sister and children were on transit from Canada to Kenya via Ethiopia.

“My mother had been in Ethiopia for six months and was coming to be with the rest of the family in Kenya,” said Karanja.

Since news of the air tragedy broke, family members of the victims have been gathering at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to get the lasted updates on the fate of their kin.

Also killed in the crash were 18 Canadians, 6 Egyptians, 9 Ethiopians, 7 French nationals, 8 Americans, 8 Italians, 8 Chinese and 7 Britons.