Correspondent|Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has visited the crash site, his office has tweeted.

“PM Abiy Ahmed visited ET 302 accident site this afternoon. He expresses his profound sadness at the loss of life and wishes healing to the friends and families of the bereaved. He provided direction to ensure full and timely investigation and communication of the cause,” said the statement.

Mr Abiy’s office was the first to share the news of the Sunday morning crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board, a US-based independent agency that investigates aviation accidents, will send a team to help investigate the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Eritrea’s Minister of Information has tweeted a message of condolence to the government of Ethiopia following this morning’s crash.

The two countries normalised diplomatic relationships last year after a bitter border dispute that lasted more than a decade.

The CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Tewolde Gebremariam is speaking at a press conference.

He said the captain of the crashed plane had told controllers at Bole airport that he was having difficulty and wanted to return, and that he had been given clearance.

He also said that the plane had arrived on Sunday morning from South Africa.

“[The] plane had more than three hours of ground time after coming from South Africa, it arrived with no remark and was dispatched with no remark.”

Mr Tewolde said smoke was still smouldering at the crash site when he visited.

Ethiopian Airlines is currently giving more details of the passengers who were on board ET 302 that crashed on Sunday shortly after taking off from Bole International Airpoirt in Addis Ababa.

The numbers we have so far are:

32 passengers were Kenyan
18 Canada
9 Ethiopian
8 Chinese
8 Italian
8 US
7 British
7 France
6 Egypt
5 Netherlands
4 UN passport
4 Indian
3 Russian
2 Moroccan
2 Israeli
1 Belgian
1 Ugandan
1 Yemeni
1 Sudanese
1 Togo
1 Mozambican
1 Norwegian

Aeroplane maker Boeing has said that it is “deeply saddened” to learn of the death of all the passengers and crew on its 737 MAX airplane, that crashed six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.