ADDID ABABA – Ethiopian Airlines has just confirmed in a press release this morning at 11:00 AM (Local Time) that its Flight ET302 – from Addis Ababa to Nairobi – crashed today around the city of Bishoftu (Debre Zeit). There were no survivors.

The aircraft – a Boeing 737-800 MAX – with registration number ET-AVJ took off at 8:38 AM (5:38 UTC) from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and lost contact at 8:44 AM.

There were 149 passengers and 8 crew members onboard the flight.
Everyone on board the jet died in the crash, a spokesman says. The victims were from 35 nationalities.

Ethiopian Airlines received its first of 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets last year in July 2018. The crashed Ethiopian B737 MAX 8 was less than 5 months old.

In a statement, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia said: “On behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, we would like to express our deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737, on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi – Kenya this morning.”