Ethiopian Airlines Brand New Boeing 737-8 MAX crashes on way to Kenya

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Latest Update:

No survivors in the crash. The dead included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight each from the United States, China and Italy, and seven each from France and Britain, the airline said.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The Latest on Ethiopian Airlines crash (all times local):

1:10 p.m.

Records
show that the Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane that crashed shortly
after takeoff Sunday morning from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi was a
new one.

The
Planespotters civil aviation database shows that the plane, a Boeing
737-8 MAX, was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines in mid-November.

The Ethiopian Airlines’ statement says the 737-8 MAX crashed six minutes after takeoff, with 157 people thought to be on board.

The cause of the crash is not immediately known.

BBC– An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet has crashed on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi in Kenya.

The flight is believed to have had 149 passengers and eight crew members on board, the airline says.

A spokesman said the crash happened at 08.44 local time on Sunday, shortly after take-off from the Ethiopian capital.

First word of the crash came when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his “deepest condolences” on Twitter.

In a statement, the airline said that search and rescue operations
were under way near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is
60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital.

It did not provide details on the number of casualties. It is not clear what caused the crash.

“Ethiopian Airlines staff will be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services,” the statement added.

The airline flies to many destinations in Africa, making it a popular
carrier in a continent where many airlines fly only from their home
country to destinations outside Africa.

It has a good reputation for safety, although in 2010 one of the company’s aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after leaving Beirut.

The incident killed 90 people on board.

The
airline’s highest fatalities to date came in a November 1996 crash
during a hijacking on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.

One of
the aeroplane’s engines stopped when the fuel ran out and although
pilots attempted an emergency water landing, they hit a coral reef in
the Indian Ocean and 123 of the 175 people on board were killed.

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