Ethiopian Airlines brand new Boeing 737 MAX crashes on way to Kenya with 157 people on board

Months after a deadly crash in Indonesia involving the same model, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 has crashed on its way to Nairobi, Kenya, carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members, minutes after take-off.

Operated by Ethiopian Airlines, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was on a routine flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to the Kenyan capital. The airline confirmed that there were no survivors.

The Ethiopian prime minister’s office was the first to comment on the crash, tweeting that the government “would like to express its deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning.”

Ethiopian Airlines said that nationals of 33 different countries were among the dead. Three passengers traveled under UN passports and their nations of origin are still being determined.

The Boeing aircraft was reportedly brand new and had been delivered to the airline just four months ago.

The company said in a statement that it was "deeply saddened" about the tragic accident and would provide technical assistance to find out why its aircraft crashed.

The aircraft model has been plagued with problems. In October, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Lion Air crashed minutes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers and crew.

After the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it would review Boeing’s previous safety analyses of the aircraft.

Bloomberg reported in November that the plane is prone to making “abrupt dives” due to a faulty flight-monitoring system.

Two pilots unions have accused Boeing of failing to properly explain a safety feature on the 737 MAX 8 aircraft in their manuals, claiming that the oversight may be responsible for the Lion Air crash.

The company issued a safety update in November to pilots flying the 737 MAX 8, warning of a possible fault in a sensor that could send the aircraft into a violent nosedive.

Despite its flaws, the 737 MAX still remains a popular choice for airlines. An estimated 200 Boeing aircraft currently ferrying passengers around the world are at risk of experiencing similar deadly malfunctions, Elmar Giemulla, a leading German expert in air and traffic law, told RT in November.