An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi with 149 passengers and eight crew believed to be on board, Ethiopian Airlines said.
“We hereby confirm that our scheduled flight ET 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved in accident today,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday.
Accident Bulletin no. 1
Issued on march 10, 2019 at 11:00am
Ethiopian Airlines will release further information as soon as it is available. Updated information will also be on Ethiopian Airlines website at https://t.co/Je7pXoKxHh pic.twitter.com/07wKZHPVPl— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) March 10, 2019
The airline said “search and rescue operations are in progress and we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible casualties”, “It is believed that there were 149 passengers and eight crew on board the flight but we are currently confirming the details of the passenger manifest for the flight” the airlines added.
The plane took off at 8:38am (06:38 GMT) from Bole International Airport and “lost contact” six minutes later near Bishoftu, a town some 60km southeast of Addis Ababa by road.