St. Cloud man among victims of Ethiopian Airlines plane crash

A St. Cloud man is among the 157 people who died when a jetliner crashed in Ethiopia.

Mucaad Hussein Abdalla, 31, was on his way to Nairobi, Kenya, from Morocco when the plane went down, said his cousin Mohamed Warfa.

Many knew him locally as Siraaje.

Warfa said Monday that family members learned of Abdalla's death early Sunday but are still waiting for his body to be identified at the crash site.

Abdalla graduated from St. Cloud Apollo High School in 2008 and worked as a truck driver, his cousin said. He had been recently married and was known for his passion for soccer. "He was very outgoing and playful," Warfa said. "He was very well known."

Relatives have launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for surviving family members, including Abdalla's mother, who lives in the Somali region of Ethiopia, his cousin said.

"He was the breadwinner for the family," Warfa said. "He was supporting his mom and siblings there. We're trying to reduce some of the financial burden for them."

The victims were from more than 35 countries and included eight Americans.