- An Ethiopian Airlines plane has crashed en route to Nairobi leaving 157 people dead.
- There were 149 passengers and 8 crew members on board. No survivors were found after an intense fire at the scene.
- The plane rashed near the ton of Bishoftu, near the capital Addis Ababa.
- The prime minister tweeted his condolences to the families of those affected.
157 people have died after an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi crashed shortly after take-off leaving no survivors.
Flight ET 302 crashed at 8.44 am on Sunday morning near the town of Bishoftu, 62 kilometers southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, with 149 passengers and 8 crew.
An eyewitness told the BBC there was an intense fire at the scene.
"The blast and the fire were so strong that we couldn't get near it," the witness said. "Everything is burnt down. There are four helicopters at the scene now."
Local search and rescue operations moved into immediate action.
"Ethiopian Airlines regrets to confirm that its flight ET 302/10 March in schedule service from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved in an accident today around Bishoftu (Debre Zeit)" an initial tatement by the airline said.
"The aircraft B-737-800MAX... took off at 08.38 a local time from Addis Ababa, Bole International Airport and lost contact at 08.44 am. At this time search and rescue operations are in progress and we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible casualties.
The cause of the crash is not yet known. However, llight tracking website Flightradar24 detected that the flight had shown "unstable vertical speed" before crashing.
The Ethiopian prime minister's office tweeted his condolences to the families of those lost in the crash.
"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," Abiy Ahmed's official account tweeted on Sunday."
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