No survivors in Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crash near Addis Ababa

All 157 people on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed soon after taking off from Addis Ababa have been killed, including eight Chinese citizens, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Embassy officials in Ethopia are heading to the airport to get the passengers list as soon as possible, The Chinese Embassy in Kenya told GT by phone.

The state affiliated Fana Broadcasting cited the company as saying that there were no survivors on the flight. The company said flight ET302 bound for Narobi took off on 8:38 am and crashed soon after takeoff. 

"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 of the flight," the airline said in a statement.

This flight usually has a number of Chinese passengers. It is a connecting flight for Chinese cities like Beijing and Guangzhou,  South China's Guangdong Province, a person familiar with Ethiopian affairs told the Global Times on Sunday. 

The plane, en route to Nairobi, Kenya, lost contact at 08.44 am local time, six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital.

Ethiopian Airlines crash is second disaster involving Boeing 737 MAX 8 in months.

The aircraft, flight number ET 302, went down near Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa. An airline spokesperson told CNN the victims were of 32 different nationalities.

The spokesperson said 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Americans, eight Italians and seven UK nationals were among the passengers.

Eight Chinese passengers were also on board, said Li Liang, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy to Ethiopia.

A family member of a victim of the crash awaits news at Addis Ababa airport.

During a press conference on Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines officials said the Canadian-European pilot had flown more than 8,000 hours and had captained a 737 since November 2017.

Officials said they have yet to determine what caused the "brand-new plane," which had flown for only 1,400 hours, to crash.

"The group CEO who is at the accident scene right now regrets to confirm that there are no survivors," Ethiopian Airlines wrote on Twitter. "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 airline said in an earlier statement that staff would "be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services."

It added that a passenger information center and hotline "will be available shortly for family or friends of those who may have been on flight."

The Ethiopian government expressed its "deepest condolences to the families," the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who first broke the news of the crash, said on Twitter.

The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it's 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.

— Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) March 10, 2019

Ethiopian Airlines has gained the reputation of being one of the best airlines in Africa. It has a good safety record and the newest fleet of planes on the African continent, according to its website.

"Ethiopian Airlines is a very, very well-run airline," said CNN anchor Richard Quest, who specializes in aviation. "There is no safety issue on Ethiopian. They've made it their business to be the African airline that operates like a western airline."

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is the same type of plane as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed soon after takeoff from Jakarta in 2018 -- killing 189 people.

A Chinese group looks at the arrival flight schedule at Nairobi airport in Kenya on Sunday.

But Geoffrey Thomas, the editor in chief of Airline Ratings, told CNN the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday had "significant differences" to the Lion Air crash last year. On the Lion Air flight, there were "wild fluctuations in air speed and... we continued to get data from the plane all the way down to impact."

Sunday's crash, however, had "no fluctuations and all of the sudden transmission" ceased, he said. "That transmission ceasing indicates catastrophic failure in air."

Family members of the victims react to news of the tragedy at Addis Ababa airport on Sunday.

"I think [Ethiopian Airlines] are going to be looking at whether there was an engine failure," CNN's Quest said. "The plane is climbing out at a normal fashion, but there are mountains in the area, and longstanding pilots are well aware that if you have an issue departing Addis on that particular route, you've got a mountain in front of you."

The aerospace giant said in a press statement that it was "deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew." It added that a "Boeing technical team is prepared to provide technical assistance at the request and under the direction of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board."

Boeing Statement on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302: https://t.co/0jyiFuGHIE pic.twitter.com/NfE5S4LSlz

— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) March 10, 2019

The last major accident involving an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane was in January 2010, when a flight from Beirut went down, killing 83 passengers and seven crew.

(GLOBAL TIMES)