All 157 people onboard an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet bound for Nairobi, Kenya were killed Sunday morning just minutes after takeoff, Ethiopian officials confirmed.
Sunday’s flight left Bole Airport in Addis Ababa at approximately 8:38 a.m. local time before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8:44 a.m, as reported by Reuters.
“There are no survivors,” the airline tweeted alongside a picture of CEO Tewolde GebreMariam holding up a piece of debris inside a large crater at the crash site.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation but this latest incident involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8 raises both concerns and questions about the safety of this particular aircraft model. It’s the same plane design as the Lion Aircraft that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after take-off from Jakarta on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people on board.
Safety officials are investigating whether technical changes to Boeing’s latest aircraft sent the Lion Aircraft into an unrecoverable nose-dive after information from the plane’s black box revealed information of the pilots’ tug of war battle with the plane’s computer to keep the craft in the air.
Two U.S. pilot associations claimed that Boeing Co. failed to warn of a safety issue on the company’s 737 Max aircraft that has been linked to the deadly crash in Indonesia.
Both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration issued directives late last year, notifying flight crews about the plane’s system that is designed to provide extra protection against pilots losing control. Aviators, unions, and training departments realized shortly after that none of the documentation for the 737 Max aircraft included an explanation.
The passengers aboard were from 33 countries, and included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Americans, eight Italians, and seven UK nationals, according to CNN.
The office of Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian prime minister, expressed on Twitter “profound sadness at the loss of life and wishes healing to the friends and families of the bereaved.”
My deepest condolences to the families of the passengers and crew of ET 302, #flyethiopian community. My prayers and thoughts are with everyone at this difficult time of pain and tragedy.
— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) March 10, 2019