Boeing Jet 737 MAX 8. Photo from Wikipedia. Two Israelis were among the passengers of the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash March 10 that killed all 157 people onboard (149 passengers and eight crew members). The plane crashed six minutes after takeoff.
Israel has offered its assistance to the Ethiopian government following the crash of the Boeing 737 which was en route to Kenya from Ethiopia. Passengers were from 33 different nationalities, according to The Jerusalem Post.
During his morning briefing March 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the families of the victims.
“I would like to send condolences to the government and people of Ethiopia, and to the families of the victims who perished in the plane crash. If there is anything we can do, we are – of course – ready to do it. We have also said this to the Ethiopian government.”
The cause of the crash has not been identified. The Boeing 737-8 MAX plane was new and had been delivered to the airline in November. Airline CEO Tewolde GebreMariam visited the crash site and told reporters that the pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return.
The aircraft is the same model as the Lion Air flight that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people on board. That crash is still being investigated.
According to Kan, the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines is regarded as the best-managed airline in Africa. 100,000 Israelis traveled on Ethiopian Airlines in 2018, mostly to India and the Far East.
According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there are approximately 350 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts in operation worldwide, flown by 54 operators– which include Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Norwegian Airlines and WestJet. To view the complete list of carriers of the aircraft, click here.
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