No survivors as Ethiopian Airlines crashes with 157 aboard

A Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 crashed six minutes after an early-morning takeoff from Addis Ababa Sunday, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew on board, Ethiopian Airlines said as world leaders offered condolences to distraught next-of-kin.

People holding passports from 32 countries and the UN were on board the plane which ploughed into a field just 60 kilometres (37 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa, the carrier's CEO Tewolde GebreMariam told journalists in the capital, lamenting this "very sad and tragic day."

The crash came on the eve of a major, annual assembly in Nairobi of the UN Environment Programme, which learnt of the crash with "deep regret" but did not say whether any delegates were on the plane.

State-owned Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's largest carrier, said the ill-fated Boeing 737-800MAX had taken off at 8:38 am (0538 GMT) from Bole International Airport and "lost contact" six minutes later.

Scheduled to land in Nairobi at 10:25 am (0725 GMT), it came down instead near the village of Tulu Fara outside Bishoftu. Ethiopian Airlines confirmed "there are no survivors."

Ethiopian Airlines said Kenya had the largest number of casualties with 32, followed by Canada with 18, Ethiopia with nine, then Italy, China, and the United States with eight each.

Britain and France each had seven people on board, Egypt six, the Netherlands five and India four. Four were UN passport-holders .Eleven countries in Africa, and 13 in Europe had citizens among the victims.

GebreMariam said the plane, delivered to Ethiopia on November 15, had flown in from Johannesburg early Sunday, and spent three hours in Addis before it was "despatched with no remark", meaning no problems were flagged.

Asked if the pilot had made a distress call, the CEO said "the pilot mentioned that he had difficulties and he wants to return. He was given clearance" to turn around.

Ethiopian and American investigators will probe the crash, said GebreMariam.

(AFP)