Ethiopia Airlines flight ET302 crash: All 157 people on plane confirmed dead

WARNING: DISTRESSING IMAGES The Boeing 737 800 Max crashed six minutes after take off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital

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All 157 people on board an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed this morning were killed in the tragedy, it has been confirmed.

Seven British passengers are said to have been among the victims, although this has not been verified by the Foreign Office.

An Irish passenger was also aboard the aircraft, officials said.

Ethiopian Airlines said it had contacted victims' families, but that it was still working to confirm the identities of those onboard.

"Once the identities of the deceased are identified, their bodies will be delivered to their families and loved ones," it said.

Flight ET302, which was en-route to Nairobi, came down six minutes after it took off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city.

It had departed at 8.38am local time. A total of 149 passengers and eight crew members are reported to have been onboard.

Kenya's transport secretary James Macharia told reporters that he could confirm there were nationals from at least 35 different countries on the plane, including seven from the UK.

The Irish foreign ministry was said to be supporting a family, while the British ambassador to Ethiopia, Dr Alastair McPhail, said his team were working hard in response to the "tragic crash".

The aircraft had been expected to arrive in Kenya's capital less than two hours after take-off - but instead, it ended in disaster.

It was a Boeing 737 800 Max - the same model as the Lion Air plane that crashed in Indonesia last October, killing 189.

Speaking of the latest tragedy, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said the plane's captain told controllers at Bole airport he was having difficulty and wanted to return.

He also said that he had been given clearance.

Mr Gebremariam was pictured leafing through what little was left of the wreckage as he visited the site of the crash.

Smoke was still smouldering at the scene.

Minister Therese Coffey said no officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) were on board, though she suspected some of the passengers had been travelling to the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi.

The plane "had unstable vertical speed" shortly after take off, Swedish flight-tracking website flightradar24 said.

"Data from Flightradar24 ADS-B network show that vertical speed was unstable after take off,” the Swedish-based flight tracking organisation said on its Twitter feed.

An eyewitness told the BBC there was an intense fire when the plane crashed.

"The blast and the fire were so strong that we couldn't get near it," he said.

"Everything is burnt down. There are four helicopters at the scene now."

The Ethiopian Prime Minister's official Twitter account expressed condolences to families of those lost.

The PM's office wrote on Twitter: "The office of the PM, on behalf of government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it's deepest condolences to the families that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning."

Slovakian MP Anton Hrnko said his wife and two children were killed in the crash, while hospitality company Tamarind Group said its chief executive Jonathan Seex also died.

The cause of the crash is not yet known.

At Nairobi airport, many passengers were waiting at the gate, with no information from airport authorities.

"We're just waiting for my mum," said Wendy Otieno, clutching her phone and weeping.

"We're just hoping she took a different flight or was delayed. She's not picking up her phone."

Robert Mudanta, 46, was waiting for his brother-in-law coming from Canada.

"No, we haven't seen anyone from the airline or the airport," he told Reuters at 1pm, more than three hours after the flight was lost. "Nobody has told us anything, we are just standing here hoping for the best."

Mr Macharia described the crash as a "regrettable incident".

He said Kenyan authorities were trying to find out exactly what happened, but because the plane came down in Ethiopian airspace they had limited information.

The Kenyan transport secretary told reporters earlier: "It is a very sensitive emotional matter. We are waiting for more information to come from Ethiopian Airlines.

"What we are doing ourselves is to provide as much support as possible to relatives and friends waiting to meet passengers."

The Max model is the newest version of Boeing’s workhorse 737 model, the world’s most popular commercial airline.

Following the crash of Lion Air flight 610 in Indonesia, Boeing issued an emergency notice that an erroneous sensor input could “cause the flight crew to have difficulty controlling the airplane,” leading to “possible impact with terrain.”

This model plan lacks a common override feature that allows pilots to reliably pull planes out of nose dives, reports the Washington Post.

The Planespotters civil aviation database shows that the plane was delivered to the airline in mid-November.

The aircraft had flown from Johannesburg to Addis earlier on Sunday morning, and had undergone a "rigorous" testing on February 4, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement.

It also said senior captain Yared Getachew had a "commendable performance" having completed more than 8,000 hours in the air.

In a later statement, the airline added: "Following the tragic accident on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302/10 March, which claimed the lives of 149 passengers and 8 crew on board, Ethiopian has teamed up with all stakeholders concerned to conduct forensic investigations and identify the identities of the victims.

"A committee comprising of Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, and Ethiopian Transport Authority has been set up to carry out the investigations."

A Boeing spokeswoman told Mirror Online that the company "is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a 737 MAX 8 airplane".

She added: "We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board and stand ready to support the Ethiopian Airlines team.

"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.”

In a later statement, the airline added: "Following the tragic accident on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302/10 March, which claimed the lives of 149 passengers and 8 crew on board, Ethiopian has teamed up with all stakeholders concerned to conduct forensic investigations and identify the identities of the victims.

"A committee comprising of Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, and Ethiopian Transport Authority has been set up to carry out the investigations."

A Boeing spokeswoman told Mirror Online that the company "is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a 737 MAX 8 airplane".

She added: "We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board and stand ready to support the Ethiopian Airlines team.

"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.”

"It operates long-haul aircraft, all the latest technology... and then on short-haul it's got [Boeing] 737s."

State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is one of the biggest carriers on the continent by fleet size with roughly 100 planes.

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.

The airline has over 100 destinations worldwide, including flights to Washington DC, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

According to Ethiopian Airlines, the confirmed nationalities of the people onboard the doomed plane are:

• 32 Kenyan
 
• 18 Canada
 
• 9 Ethiopian
 
• 8 Chinese
 
• 8 Italian
 
• 8 US
 
• 7 British
 
• 7 France
 
• 6 Egypt
 
• 5 Netherland
 
• 4 Indian
   
• 3 Russian
 
• 2 Moroccan
 
• 2 Israeli
 

There was one passenger each from Belgium, Uganda, Yemen, Sudan, Togo, Mozambique and Norway.

Four of those onboard were listed as using United Nations passports and their nationalities were not immediately clear.

The last deadly Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane crash was in 2010, when the aircraft crashed minutes after take-off from Beirut. All 90 people on board died in that tragedy.

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was "aware" of the latest incident and "providing consular assistance".

UK investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch are likely to be communicating with their counterparts in Ethiopia to keep next-of-kin informed.

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