11 March

Ethiopian Airlines says the pilot of a crashed passenger plane had reported a problem and asked to turn back before the aircraft went down near Addis Ababa on Sunday.

The Boeing 737 was bound for the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members.

It crashed shortly after 8:30 AM local time. The airline says contact with the aircraft was lost six minutes after takeoff. It also says all people on board were killed.

The airline's CEO told reporters that the pilot had asked air traffic controllers for clearance to return to Addis Ababa, citing some difficulties.

The executive also said a routine maintenance check didn't reveal any problems with the Boeing 737.

Ethiopian Airlines says there were passengers from at least 30 countries, including Canada, Italy and China in addition to Kenya and Ethiopia. Some staff of the United Nations are also among the fatalities.

Ethiopian authorities have been searching for the aircraft's black boxes which keep flight data and cockpit voice recordings and will be used as part of their investigation into the cause of the crash.

NHK