Lebanon’s Information Minister Mitri briefed the press on the results of the emergency cabinet session and said:

- The purpose of the cabinet session was to look into the strategies of the rescue operations ( of the crashed Ethiopian airliner ) and to ensure their continuity

- Until now, 14 bodies were recovered and transported to Rafik Hariri University Hospital for identification.
- So far, there is no evidence at all of any foul play
-Minutes after the airplane took off, contact was lost with Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
- Many other airplanes took off at the same time and there was no reason to prevent the Ethiopian airplane from taking off.
- The conversation between the captain of the airplane and the air-traffic control tower was recorded. Further investigation will help reveal the cause behind the crash.