An Ethiopian Airlines flight between Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, has crashed, killing 149 passengers and eight crew members aboard.
A statement from the office of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, confirmed the crash, saying: “The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express its 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.”
Flight ET 302 crashed near the town of Bishoftu, 62 kilometres southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, the airline said, identifying the plane was a Boeing 737-800 MAX.
The airline confirmed that 149 passengers and eight crew members were aboard, as the plane took off from Addis Ababa at 8:38am local time (05:38 GMT), but crashed six minutes later.
“At this time search and rescue operations are in progress and we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible causalities,” a spokesperson for the airline said in a statement.
