Breaking News: Airline Crash Kills 157 People in Africa

An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed soon after taking off from an airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this morning, killing all 157 passengers on board. The plane was on its way to Nairobi, Kenya, according to an announcement from the airline.

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The Boeing airliner took off at at 08:38 am local time and lost contact at 08.44 am local time from Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital. The airline believes there were 149 passengers and eight crew members on board.

The aircraft, flight number ET 302, went down near the city of Bishoftu which is a few miles southeast of Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Airlines issued a statement saying:

“The group CEO who is at the accident scene right now regrets to confirm that there are no survivors. He expresses his profound sympathy and condolences to the families and loved ones of passengers and crew who lost their lives in this tragic accident.”

“Ethiopian Airlines staff will be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services,” the airline added.

The airline also said that a passenger information center and hotline “will be available shortly for family or friends of those who may have been on flight.”

The Ethiopian government expressed its “deepest condolences to the families,” the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Twitter.

Ethiopian Airlines is known for being one of the best-run airlines in Africa. It has an excellent safety record as well as the newest fleet of planes on the African continent, according to its website.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is the same type of plane as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed soon after takeoff from Jakarta in 2018 — killing 189 people.

But Geoffrey Thomas, the editor in chief of Airline Ratings, told CNN the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday had “significant differences” to the Lion Air crash last year. On the Lion Air flight, there were “wild fluctuations in air speed and… we continued to get data from the plane all the way down to impact.”

Sunday’s crash, however, had “no fluctuations and all of the sudden transmission” ceased, he said. “That transmission ceasing indicates catastrophic failure in air.”

The aerospace giant tweeted addressed the Ethiopian Airlines accident on Twitter. “Boeing is aware of reports of an airplane accident and is closely monitoring the situation,” it wrote.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.