Ethiopian Airlines crash 'unimaginable' tragedy, says MP who flew with victims

A Gatineau, Que.,MP who flew alongside many of the victims of Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines crash right before they boarded the doomed aircraft is calling their deaths an "unimaginable" tragedy.

Greg Fergus, who represents HullAylmer, was on a flight from Toronto to Addis Ababa as part of a parliamentary delegation.

All 157 peopleon board a connecting flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi died when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff.

Eighteen Canadians were killed in the crash, and Fergus told Radio-Canada he knew that 10 of those victims had earlier beenon his plane from Toronto.

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Fergus said he believed he spoke with one of them.

"It's a really unfortunate story ... it's unimaginable," he said in an interview in French.

"These are people who were there to do good, to see their families, to participate in a United Nations conference or to volunteer as many do in developing countries and by misfortune they [died] on the flight."

In a French-language Facebook post, Fergus also sharedhis condolences with the friends and families of those who died.

Other delegation membersexpressed similar sentiments on social media.

Fergus said the work of the delegation which was traveling to both Ethiopia and Rwanda for meetings with government officials would continue.

He also said heattended a memorial ceremony for the victims.

A total of 149 passengers and eightcrew members perished in the crash. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities have found the flight data recorders from the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane.