Ethiopian said in a statement that it lost contact with flight ET 302 at 8.44am local time, after the aircraft took off from Addis Ababa, Bole International airport at 8.38am.

It is believed there were 149 passengers and eight crew onboard.

Search and rescue operations were in progress this morning, but the airline has since confirmed there are no survivors. The passengers were from 33 countries.

Ethiopian said in a statement posted at 1.46pm local time (10.46am UK time): “Ethiopian Airlines Group chief executive deeply regrets the fatal accident… The group chief executive who is at the accident scene right now regrets to confirm there are no survivors.

“He expresses his profound sympathy and condolences to the families and loved ones of passengers and crew who lost their lives in this tragic accident.”

There were no immediate details on what caused the crash of the Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft, which the Independent reports was new and had been delivered to the airline in November.

Airport emergency hotline numbers have been posted on Ethiopian’s Twitter page.