An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet flight ET302 bound for Kenya’s capital city Nairobi crashed early on 10 Mar 2019, Sunday with 157 people aboard with no information yet on casualties. (149 passengers and 8 crew members)
According to a statement from the airline, flight ET302 took off at 8:38 a.m. local time and lost contact six minutes later, crashing near the city of Bishoftu 62 kilometers southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.
“Search and rescue operations are in progress and we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible casualties,” the airline said in a statement.
The prime minister’s office sent condolences via Twitter to the families of those lost in the crash, without offering further details.
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
State-owned Ethiopian is one of the biggest carriers on the continent by fleet size. It said previously that it expected to carry 10.6 million passengers last year.
Its last major crash was in January 2010, when a flight from Beirut went down shortly after take-off.
Ethiopian Airlines has issued an Accident Bulletin about flight ET302 on twitter.
Accident Bulletin no. 1
Issued on march 10, 2019 at 11:00am
Ethiopian Airlines will release further information as soon as it is available. Updated information will also be on Ethiopian Airlines website at https://t.co/Je7pXoKxHh pic.twitter.com/07wKZHPVPl— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) March 10, 2019
