What caused the Ethiopian Airlines crash, how many casualties were there and when did it happen?
The doomed flight repeatedly nosedived with pilots battling to control the aircraft before it crashed
DEVASTATED families are seeking answers after a plane bound for Nairobi crashed just six minutes into the flight.
Here’s the latest on the doomed Boeing 737 and what we know about the crash so far.
When did the Ethiopian Airlines crash happen?
Flight ET302 took off at 8.38am on Sunday March 10.
The pilot had reported difficulties shortly after takeoff and asked to turn the plane around.
The doomed flight repeatedly nosedived as the pilots battled to control the nearly full aircraft.
It crashed close to Bishoftu, which is around 31 miles south of capital Addis Ababa.
What caused the Ethiopian Airlines crash?
It is not yet clear why the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed but something went wrong not long after takeoff.
Flight Radar suggested on Twitter that the plane had unstable vertical speed.
The Boeing 737 Max reportedly hit a mystery object just after take-off sending it plunging to the ground, killing all 157 people on board.
A preliminary report released by Ethiopia’s government says the crew of the jet performed all of the procedures recommended by Boeing when the plane started to nose dive but could not control it.
Preliminary findings from the Ethiopia smash that killed 157 last month pointed to an anti-stall system malfunction.
A chilling radar map shows the flight not far from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, before the tracking suddenly stops.
The CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, said the plane had “no known technical problems”.
On Thursday April 4, a preliminary report said the pilots had performed all the correct procedures.
Airline chief Mr GebreMariam said he was “very proud” of the pilots’ “high level of professional performance”.
“It was very unfortunate they could not recover the airplane from the persistence of nosediving,” he said.
Who were the victims of the tragic flight?
There were no survivors of the tragic Ethiopian Airlines crash.
The flight was carrying 149 passengers from 35 countries including nine Brits and eight crew members.
Campaigner Joanna Toole, 36, from Devon, and University of Plymouth graduate Sarah Auffret were both on their way to a UN conference in Nairobi.
It is understood Joanna was going to conduct a workshop with fishermen on behalf of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Her heartbroken dad Adrian Toole revealed he had always been terrified of her frequent flying for work.
The CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, confirmed the dead included eight Americans and Italians, 32 Kenyans, nine Ethiopians, eight Chinese, seven French, 18 Canadians, six Egyptians, five from the Netherlands, and four from India and Slovakia.
The UN has said 21 of its staff members were among the dead, including employees of the World Food Programme (WFP), the Office of the High Commissioner on Refugees and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The World Food Programme said six of its employees were also on the flight.
On March 17, empty coffins representing the Ethiopian victims were buried in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa.
None of the bodies have yet been formally identified and families have been told the difficult process could take another six months.
Who owns Ethiopian Airlines?
The state-owned Ethiopian Airlines calls itself Africa’s largest carrier and has ambitions of becoming the gateway to the continent.
Its last major crash was in January 2010, when a flight from Beirut went down shortly after take-off.
The crash came as the country’s reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, vowed to open up the airline and other sectors to foreign investment in a major transformation of the state-centered economy.
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