Ethiopian Airlines has joined carriers in China and the Cayman Islands in suspending the use of Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after a crash on Sunday killed all 157 people onboard.
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302, on its way to Nairobi from Addis Ababa, crashed six minutes after takeoff, ploughing into a field near Tulu Fara village outside the town of Bishoftu, 40 miles south-east of the Ethiopian capital.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, but the disaster was the second involving the new aircraft in the past four months. In October, a Lion Air plane crashed into the sea off the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, killing all 189 people onboard.
“Although we don’t yet know the cause of the accident, we have to decide to ground the particular fleet as an extra safety precaution,” Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier, said.
Earlier on Monday, China’s aviation authorities ordered the country’s airlines to ground their Boeing 737 Max 8 jets.
Read more at The Guardian
{Matzav.com}
