There were no survivors in a plane crash this morning that was said to have had 157 people on board, including 18 Canadians.
The state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, widely considered the best managed airline in Africa, said that 149 passengers and eight crew members were thought to be on the plane, which crashed six minutes after departing.
It is not yet clear what caused the crash of new Boeing 737-8 MAX plane shortly after takeoff from Bole Airport en route to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
Ethiopian Airlines confirmed the crash this morning. Of the victims on the flight, there were 18 Canadians.
The victims also included 32 Kenyans, six Ethiopians, eight people each from China, the United States, and Italy, seven each from France and Britain, six from Egypt, five from the Netherlands, and four each from India and Slovakia.
Five Germans were killed and three each from Russia, Austria and Sweden. Spain, Israel Morocco and Poland each lost two citizens.
Countries losing one citizen were Belgium, Djibouti, Indonesia, Ireland, Mozambique, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, Serbia, Togo, Uganda, Yemen, Nepal and Nigeria.
The pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return, the airline’s CEO said.
The crash occurred around Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, some 50 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, at 8:44 a.m.
Accident Bulletin no. 2
— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) March 10, 2019
Issued on march 10, 2019 at 01:46 PM pic.twitter.com/KFKX6h2mxJ
The airline published a photo of its CEO standing in the wreckage this morning, confirming that there were no survivors.
“Tewolde Gebremariam, who is at the accident scene now, regrets to confirm that there are no survivors,” said the airline. “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.”
The Addis Ababa-Nairobi route links East Africa’s two largest economic powers and is popular with tourists making their way to safari and other destinations
The last deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane occurred in 2010, when the plane crashed minutes after takeoff from Beirut. All 90 people on board were killed.
In a statement, Boeing said it was “deeply saddened” to hear of the crash and that a technical team was ready to provide assistance at the request of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
-With files from the Canadian Press.
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