An aid worker from Lancashire has been named as one of the 157 people killed in the Ethiopian Airways plane crash.

Sam Pegram, 25, had worked for Norwegian Refugee Council and was on his way to Nairobi with a colleague to deliver a training programme.

His mother Deborah said that her son ‘loved the work he was doing’ and was ‘so looking forward’ to his time in Kenya.

Picture: Metro Grab(No Credit) British victim in Ethiopia crash - Sam Pegram
Sam Pegram, 25, had been ‘so happy’ in the week before his death
Engine parts are seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
His dad described him as ‘so very special’ (Picture: Reuters)

‘We can’t believe this has happened. We’re totally devastated,’ she told the Lancashire Post.

Sam, from the town of Penwortham, had dedicated his life to humanitarian work, having previously been in Jordan as a volunteer aid worker assisting refugees.

He had been based in Geneva since January and his parents had been to visit just last week.

‘We spent such a lovely four days with him. He was so happy. He had so many plans and so much he wanted to do. It was his calling,’ they said.

Sam was a former pupil at Priory High School and Runshaw College and later did international relations at the University of Leeds and a Masters in international human rights law at York.

His father Mark Pegram said he was ‘so very special’, adding ‘I know every parent thinks that about their child, but Sam really was’.

‘He always had a big heart, he was always looking out for others. He had a very strong sense of what he thought was right and what was wrong and he didn’t like to see anyone suffer,’ he said.

Rescuers work at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight crash near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monday, March 11, 2019. A spokesman says Ethiopian Airlines has grounded all its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as a safety precaution, following the crash of one of its planes in which 157 people were killed. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
There were no survivors in the crash (Picture: AP)
epaselect epa07427607 Wreckage lies at the crash site of Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 en route to Nairobi, Kenya, near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 10 March 2019. All passengers onboard the scheduled flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew members, have died, the airlines says. EPA/STR
Seven Brits lost their lives in the crash (Picture: EPA)

‘He absolutely loved the work he was doing, because he was helping ease people’s suffering and that was what was important to him more than anything else.’

It is not yet known what caused the 737 Max 8 aircraft – which had only been in service for four months – to crash shortly after take-off in Ethiopia.

Boeing is now facing mounting pressure to guarantee the safety of its aircraft after the incident left no survivors among the 157 people on-board.

Seven Brits lost their lives in the crash, alongside Kenyans, Ethiopians, Chinese, Canadians, Americans, Italians, Indians, French and Egyptian citizens on-board.

China’s aviation watchdog ordered the temporary grounding of all its Max 8 planes today while a Caribbean operator suspended operations with both of its new planes.

In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was ‘closely monitoring developments’ following the tragedy, just months after a crash involving the same kind of plane left 189 people dead.

Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said on Sunday that the American firm is providing ‘technical assistance’ to Ethiopian government and regulatory authorities in their investigation.

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