*no information if Nigerians are onboard
All the 157 persons on board an Ethiopian Airlines (ET) plane that crashed are dead, the airline has confirmed.
The airline said there were 33 different nationalities on board but the countries haven’t been named.
It’s not immediately clear if Nigerians were onboard but Nigerians are huge patrons of ET and indeed ET’s biggest customers in Africa.
The plane crashed from an altitude of about 8,500 feet above sea level according to preliminary reports.
A Swedish flight-tracking website, flightradar24.com, said the aircraft “had unstable vertical speed.”
“We don’t know if there is a distress call before the crash. The plane is about 6 months old,” it added.
The Swedish-based flight tracking organisation said on its Twitter that “data from Flightradar24 ADS-B network show that vertical speed was unstable after takeoff.”
Addis Ababa has high altitudes and has a lot of mountains which requires special take-off and landing architecture.
Daily Trust reports that a Boeing 737 Aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airlines crashed en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi with a reported 149 passengers and eight crew members on board.
An Accident Bulletin No.1 issued by the Airline at about 11am Ethiopian time on 10th March, 2019 confirmed that its “flight ET 302/10 March in schedule service from Addis Ababa to Naira was involved in an accident around Bishoftu (Debre Zeit).”
“The aircraft B-737-800MAX with registration number ET-AVJ took off at 08:38 local time from Addis Ababa, Bole International Airport and lost contact at 08:44am,” it said
The airline in the statement said search and rescue operations are in progress but has no conformed information about survivors or casualties.
The airline is yet to release the manifest even though it has released 157 as the total number of persons on board the aircraft. The national of the people on board have also not been established.
The airline has already opened a passenger information centre and telephone numbers for family and friends who want to make enquiry.
Ethiopian Prime Minister in a tweet via @PMEthiopia has offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the ill-fated plane.
“The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express its deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning,” the tweet read.
The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it’s deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning.
— Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) March 10, 2019
Later, he also promised to provide direction to ensure timely investigation and communication of the cause of the plane crash in a tweet below:
PM Abiy Ahmed visited ET 302 accident site this afternoon. He expresses his profound sadness at the loss of life and wishes healing to the friends and families of the bereaved. He provided direction to ensure full and timely investigation and communication of the cause.
— Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) March 10, 2019
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