Plane in Ethiopian Airlines crash same Boeing model in Indonesian Lion Air crash

China has grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 planes.

Sulaiman Daud | March 11, 2019, 04:51 PM

An Ethiopian Airlines flight, ET302, crashed en route from Ethiopia's capital city of Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya on March 10.

Tragically, there were no survivors.

According to a tweet from Ethiopian Airlines, which issued a Accident Bulletin on the passenger flight list, no Singaporeans were on board the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane.

However, China, India, Indonesia, U.S. and French nationals were among the passengers and crew.

According to a statement from the United Nations, at least 19 UN staff were on board.

Plane was newly-delivered

However, what was unusual about the ET302 crash was that it was a relatively new Boeing 737 Max 8 plane, delivered to the airline just four months ago.

According to The GuardianEthiopia Airlines chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam said routine maintenance had not turned up any problems with the plane.

He also said that the pilot captain, Yared Getachew, had an "excellent flying record." Said GebreMariam:

"As I said, it is a brand new airplane with no technical remarks, flown by a senior pilot and there is no cause that we can attribute at this time."

Same as Lion Air plane

The Boeing 737 Max 8 happens to be the same model as the Lion Air plane that crashed into the Java Sea, Indonesia, after takeoff on Oct. 29, 2018.

Questions are being asked about the plane's safety record and technical reliability.

The Chinese government has acted to immediately ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes over safety concerns.

According to CNN, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said all such planes had to land due to "zero tolerance for safety hazards".

China has the one of the world's largest fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, 97 of them.

SilkAir Boeing 737 Max 8s still operational

Closer to home, SilkAir's six Boeing 737 Max 8 planes are still operational, used on flights to cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Phuket and Chongqing.

SilkAir is the regional wing of Singapore Airlines (SIA). It currently has another 31 of the planes on firm order.

Responding to queries by Channel NewsAsia, SilkAir said it is "closely monitoring the situation." However, flights will proceed as planned.

According to a statement released by Boeing itself, a technical team will travel to the crash site to provide assistance under the direction of the Ethiopia Accident Investigation Bureau and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

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Top image from MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images.