A Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after departing from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, killing all 157 people on board, the airline confirmed. The flight bound for Nairobi, Kenya, had 149 passengers and eight crew members, including 33 different nationalities.
The aircraft, which took off at 08:44 local time, crashed six minutes later near Bishoftu, 60 kilometers southeast of the capital. An eyewitness described intense flames engulfing the wreckage, with emergency helicopters dispatched to the site.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed condolences on social media, while Ethiopian Airlines stated rescue operations were underway. The carrier pledged to support emergency services with staff deployment to the crash zone.
A 2017 photo shows a similar Boeing 737-700 departing from Abidjan, unrelated to the 2019 incident.
