Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi crashes\, killing 157

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NO REPORTER NARRATION An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet to Nairobi crashed early on Sunday (March 10), killing 149 passengers and eight crew, the airline said.

Flight ET 302, registration number ET-AVJ, crashed near the town of Bishoftu, 62 kilometres (38.5 miles) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, the airline said.

Images from the crash site showed a helicopter arriving at the scene as crowds gathered in the area.

The flight left Bole airport in Addis Ababa at 8.38 a.m.

Local time (0538 GMT), before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8.44 a.m.

(0544 GMT) Passengers from 33 countries were aboard including Kenyan, Ethiopian, American, Canadian, French, Chinese, Egyptian, Swedish, British and Dutch citizens.