No survivor for the crashed Ethiopian Airline plane that crashed this morning, the airline has confirmed.
All the 149 passengers and eight crew members perished in the crash which happened today at around 8.44 am local time, six minutes after take-off.
“The Group CEO who is at the accident scene right now regrets to confirms that there are no survivors,” read a statement from the airline.
An eyewitness at the scene told the BBC there was an intense fire as the aircraft hit the ground.
“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.”
Here are the nationalities of the victims:
- 32 passengers were Kenyan
- 18 Canada
- 9 Ethiopian
- 8 Chinese
- 8 Italian
- 8 US
- 7 British
- 7 France
- 6 Egypt
- 5 Netherlands
- 4 UN passport
- 4 Indian
- 3 Russian
- 2 Moroccan
- 2 Israeli
- 1 Belgian
- 1 Ugandan
- 1 Yemeni
- 1 Sudanese
- 1 Togo
- 1 Mozambican
- 1 Norwegian
In an earlier statement, the airline said that search and rescue operations were under way near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital.
Read: US Had Warned Its Citizens Before Crash Of Ethiopian Airlines’ Plane That Claimed 157 Lives
“Ethiopian Airlines staff will be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services,” the statement added.
Boeing, the company that built the aeroplane, said in a tweet that it was “closely monitoring the situation”.
Its 737 Max-8 aircraft is relatively new to the skies, having been launched in 2016. It was added to the Ethiopian Airlines fleet in July last year.
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