A brand new Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX crashed shortly after takeoff killing all of the 157 people on board. The pilot reported having issues just a few minutes into the Kenya-bound flight and had asked air traffic controllers to return to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Officials said they do not know what caused the crash.
"At this stage, we cannot rule out anything," Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. "We cannot also attribute the cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation."
There were passengers from 30 countries on the flight, and the victims included eight Americans.
It is the second time in six months that Boeing 737-8 MAX has crashed minutes after takeoff. In October one of the jets crashed into the Java Seat just 13 minutes after takeoff killing all 189 people on board.
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