Five German nationals among victims of Ethiopian plane crash

BERLIN, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The German Federal foreign Office confirmed on Monday that five German people died in Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed near Addis Ababa on Sunday.

"The Federal foreign Office regrets to confirm that, according to the information available to us at the present time, five German nationals were among the victims of the plane crash in Ethiopia," the Federal foreign Office said in a statement.

It added that the "foreign Office and the relevant German missions are in contact" with the victims' families.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday night sent a message to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, expressing Germany's sincere condolences to the families and relatives of the victims and the Ethiopian people.

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa on Sunday morning local time, killing all 157 people on board.

Flight ET 302 was bound for Nairobi, Kenya. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Enditem