Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operating on a scheduled route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, crashed shortly after takeoff on March 10, 2019, with all 157 people on board killed. The Ethiopian prime minister issued a statement expressing grief, saying, "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 aircraft, which had been delivered to Ethiopian Airlines just four months earlier, disappeared from radar six minutes after departure. Initial reports indicated 149 passengers and 8 crew members were aboard. The crash site was located near Bishoftu, about 50 kilometers southeast of Addis Ababa.
This tragedy marks the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 737 MAX in five months, following the Lion Air crash in October 2018. Ethiopian Airlines has not yet released a detailed investigation report into the incident.
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