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| Ethiopian Airlines CEO at crash site (Bishoftu) |
Eight crew members and
149 passengers who were aboard flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital, Addis
Ababa, to Nairobi in Kenya, have been killed in a plane crash this morning.
Ethiopian Airlines reported that there were 33 different nationalities on board Boeing 737-800MAX.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy to Ethiopia revealed that there were
eight Chinese passengers on board. CNN reports that the plane lost contact at
08:44 am local time, six minutes after taking off from Bole International
Airport in Addis Ababa. The cause of the crash is still unknown.
Ethiopian
Airlines tweeted, "The group CEO who is
at the accident scene right now regrets to confirm that there are no survivors.
"He expresses his profound sympathy and
condolences to the families and loved ones of passengers and crew who lost
their lives in this tragic accident."
In an earlier statement, Ethiopian Airlines said
staff would "be sent to the accident scene and will do everything
possible to assist the emergency services", and also said a passenger
information center and hotline "will be available shortly for family
or friends of those who may have been on flight."
According to Flight Radar, a Sweden-based website
tracking air traffic, the flight was scheduled to land in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, at 10:25 a.m. According to Flight Radar, "additional data from Flightradar24 ADS-B
network show that vertical speed was unstable after take off."
Motions of support were shared on Twitter following
news of the crash, beginning with the Office of the Prime Minister -
Ethiopia.
The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it’s deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning.— Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) March 10, 2019
We are saddened by the news of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger aircraft that is reported to have crashed 6 minutes after takeoff en route to Kenya. My prayers go to all the families and associates of those on board.— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) March 10, 2019
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