An Ethiopian Airlines plane en route to Nairobi crashed shortly after takeoff, with the airline confirming that there were no survivors. The pilot had reported difficulties and asked for permission to turn back.
Image: Reuters/T. Negeri
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An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on Sunday, shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing all eight crew members and 149 passengers on board the Nairobi-bound flight.
Flight ET 302 came down near the town of Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Addis Ababa, just minutes after taking off at 8:38 a.m. local time, the airline said in a statement.
An eyewitness told the AFP news agency that the aircraft was on fire before it hit the ground.
People from 35 countries were on board the flight, the airline said in a statement posted on Twitter. The airline has said that among the dead are 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians and nine Ethiopians, as well as eight passengers each from the United States, China and Italy.
There were also eight passengers from France, seven from the United Kingdom, six from Egypt, five each from Germany and the Netherlands and four each from India and Slovakia.
The United Nations said some 19 people on the flight were affiliated with the UN.
A statement by the Ethiopian Prime Minister's Office expressed its "deepest condolences" to families of the victims and declared a national day of mourning on Monday.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said his "thoughts are with the families and relatives of the victims." The Foreign Office said it assumed German nationals were among the victims and was in close contact with the airline and Ethiopian authorities.
Flight ET 302 took off from Addis Ababa at 8:38 a.m. local time, before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8:44 a.m.
Crash after takeoff
Ethiopian Airlines' CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, said the plane, which was delivered just last year, "had no known technical problems." The airline added that the pilot had over 8,000 cumulative flight hours.
Tewolde, who traveled to the scene of the accident, said the pilot of the crashed plane had reported difficulties and asked for permission to turn back.
"It is too early to speculate the cause of the accident," the CEO said in a statement published by the airline, adding that the accident will be investigated with Boeing, the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and other international entities.
Second major accident with MAX jet
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is the same type of plane as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed last October, 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta, killing 189 people.
The plane involved in Sunday's deadly crash was one of 30 Boeing 737 jets that Ethiopian Airlines recently purchased. The airline said Monday that it would ground its fleet of 737 MAX 8s as a safety precaution.
China also grounded all 737 MAX aircraft operated by Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines in response to the crash.
"Whatever the cause of the crash, it could deliver a blow to the economic reform agenda of the new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who shortly after taking office in April 2018 announced opening Ethiopian Airlines to foreign investors," said Ludger Schadomsky, head of DW's Amharic service.
The last major accident involving an Ethiopian Airlines plane occurred when a Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after taking off from Lebanon in 2010, killing 83 passengers and seven crew members.
Europe's major plane crashes of the 21st century
DW takes a look at a few of the most deadly and significant plane crashes in Europe in the 21st century.
Image: AP/Toshihiko Sato
European aviation disasters of the 21st century: Germanwings Airbus A320
A Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed into the French Alps on March 24, 2015 during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. A co-pilot with mental problems intentionally crashed the plane.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
Rebels in eastern Ukraine were accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, 193 of them Dutch. A Dutch investigation found pro-Russian rebels shot the plane down with a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from separatist territory in eastern Ukraine.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Dunand
Polish President Lech Kaczynski killed
A Polish air force plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Russian airport of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. A Russian and Polish investigation found pilot error during landing in thick fog caused the crash that killed more than 90 people. Jaroslaw Kaczynski (pictured), the twin brother of Lech and leader of the ruling PiS, has suggested the crash was a political assassination.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kaminski
Air France Flight 447
An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the Atlantic on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. It took nearly two years for the black box (pictured) to be recovered from the bottom of the ocean. The investigation found a combination of technical and pilot error caused the crash.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Spanair Flight 5022
A Spanair MD-82 plane crashed after take-off from Madrid airport on August 20, 2008, killing 154 people. Amazingly, 18 people survived the crash and subsequent fire. The crash was caused by an improper flap and slat configuration and a failure of the pilots to follow a pre-flight checklist.
Image: AP
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612
A Russian passenger plane operated by Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise crashed near the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk on August 22, 2006, killing all 170 people aboard. The plane was flying from St. Petersburg to the Black Sea resort of Anapa.
Image: AP
Helios Airways Flight 522
A Helios Airways flight from Cyprus crashed on August 14, 2005 near its destination Athens, killing all 121 on board. The crash was caused by a loss of cabin pressurization that immobilized the crew. The plane flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
Image: AP
Überlingen mid-air collision
On the night of July 1, 2002, a DHL cargo plane flying near the southern German town of Überlingen struck a Russian passenger jet carrying mostly schoolchildren to Barcelona, Spain. The two men aboard the DHL plane and all 69 passengers and crew on Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 perished. Swiss air traffic control firm Skyguide was found to be at fault for the tragedy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Haid
SAS Flight 686
On October 8, 2001 a Scandinavian Airlines MD-87 airliner collided with a small Cessna on take-off from Milan's Linate Airport. All 114 people on the SAS and Cessna aircraft were killed, as were four people on the ground. The accident happened in thick fog. The SAS plane crashed into a hangar.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ansa
Air France Concorde Flight
On July 25, 2000 an Air France Concorde flight from Paris to New York crashed two minutes after take-off, killing 109 people on board and four people on the ground. The crash was caused by the Concorde running over a piece of debris on the runway, which sent tire debris into part of the fuel tank that burst into flames.
Image: AP/Toshihiko Sato
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The Ethiopian state-owned airline — widely considered the best-managed airline in Africa — calls itself Africa's largest carrier and has ambitions of becoming the gateway to the continent. It recently opened a route to Moscow and in January inaugurated a new passenger terminal in Addis Ababa to triple capacity as part of an ambitious expansion.
