An Ethiopian Airlines spokesman confirmed that the Boeing 737 plane from Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa to Nairobi of Kenya had crashed on Sunday (March 10), killing all 157 people on board.
Ethiopia’s state broadcaster EBC reported everyone on the plane had died and that passengers included 33 nationalities, including 32 Kenyans and 17 Ethiopians.
The plane took off at 8:38am (0638 GMT) from Bole International Airport and “lost contact” six minutes later near Bishoftu, a town some 37 miles southeast of Addis Ababa.
The airline staff were being sent to the scene of the crash to “do everything possible to assist the emergency services.”
It also plans to set up a passenger information centre and a dedicated telephone number for family and friends of people who may have been on board the flight.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted his “deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones”.
“My prayers go to all the families and associates of those on board,” Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said.
In an earlier statement, the airline said: “We hereby confirm that our scheduled flight ET 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved in an accident today”.
”It is believed that there were 149 passengers and eight crew on board the flight but we are currently confirming the details of the passenger manifest for the flight,” it added.
