Ethiopia is grappling with a tragic aviation incident after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800MAX bound for Nairobi crashed shortly after departing Addis Ababa. The aircraft, registered as ET-AVJ, took off from Bole International Airport at 8:38 a.m. local time on March 10, 2019, and lost contact six minutes later.
The plane carried 149 passengers and eight crew members. Ethiopian Airlines confirmed the crash in a statement, noting that search and rescue operations were underway with no immediate information on survivors. The airline has not yet released details about the cause of the accident.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed deep condolences to affected families through a social media statement. "The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, extends its deepest sympathies to those who have lost loved ones in this tragic incident," he wrote.
The crash marks the second major aviation disaster involving Ethiopian Airlines in less than a year, following the October 2018 crash of a similar Boeing 737-800MAX in Lion Mountain, Indonesia, which killed 189 people.
