Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members, has crashed near Addis Ababa, with initial reports indicating that there were no survivors.
Ethiopia’s state broadcaster EBC said the passengers included travelers from 33 nationalities. At least two Israelis may have been on the flight.
The new Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft crashed six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, en route to Nairobi, at 8:38 a.m, allegedly killing everyone aboard. The cause of the crash has not yet been reported, and the airline issued a statement saying “search and rescue operations are in progress, and we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible casualties.”
The flight route is popular with Israelis traveling to Kenya, as there are no direct flights between the two countries.
According to Channel 13 news, the plane that crashed may have been in Israel last week.
Ethiopian Airlines, a state-owned company, is Africa’s largest carriers and is considered the best-managed airline in Africa.
