Family mourns plane crash victim

Version 0 of 1.

A Devon family is mourning the loss a father who died when a plane crashed into the sea after leaving Beirut.

Businessman Afif Krisht, 57, was among 90 people aboard an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane which plunged into the Mediterranean on Monday.

His former wife Tania, 44, lives in Leigham, Plymouth, with their two sons, Alex, 20 and Adam, 18.

Another son, Michael, 26, works in Angola with Mr Krisht who visited the family in Plymouth over the new year.

He was one of my best friends Ex-wife Tania Krisht

Michael called his mother on Monday morning to say he had been told by the authorities that Mr Krisht had died.

Mr Krisht, who had dual British-Lebanese nationality, had been en-route to Angola from Beirut via Addis Ababa.

Mrs Krisht told BBC News that she and the boys were "devastated".

The boys regularly visited their father in Lebanon in the summer.

Mrs Krisht said: "He was one of my best friends.

"The boys are being very brave - it hasn't sunk in yet for any of us.

"I am devastated for my children and for Afif. He is a good man. No-one deserves to end their life like that."

The passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off from Beirut airport.

Eyewitnesses say they saw a ball of fire in the sky before Addis Ababa-bound Flight ET409, which had taken off in stormy weather, fell into the sea.

At least 21 bodies have been found and the airline's chief executive said there was no word of survivors.