By Renee Duff, AccuWeather meteorologist
An Ethiopian Airlines flight with 157 people on board crashed in eastern Africa on Sunday morning.
"The [Ethiopian Airlines Group] CEO who is at the accident scene right now regrets to confirm that there are no survivors," the airline said in a statement.
"It is too early to speculate the cause of the accident and further investigation will be carried out to find out the cause of the accident..."
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his condolences in a televised address, while Ethiopia's House of People's Representatives declared March 11, 2019 a national day of mourning. Ahmed also visited the accident site Sunday afternoon.
Weather observations are sparse in the area of the crash, but indications point toward generally clear conditions and light winds at the time of the incident.
Rain and wind from Tropical Storm Idai is impacting areas well to the south of where the plane went down.
The weather for search and recovery efforts will remain dry into Tuesday, with sunshine each day and high temperatures near 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius).
In this photo taken from the Ethiopian Airlines Facebook page, the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, looks at the wreckage of the plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sunday March 10, 2019. (Facebook via AP)
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane six minutes after it took off at 8:38 a.m. local time from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to the Associated Press.
The plane was en route to Nairobi, Kenya.
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Authorities have stated that the plane was transporting people from many nationalities, including from Canada, China, France, Ethiopia, Italy, Kenya and the United States.
The Associated Press reports people from 35 countries were on board. Several were reportedly traveling to a key United Nations environmental meeting in Nairobi on Monday.
According to the U.S. Department of State, at least eight U.S. citizens were among the victims of the crash.
The plane was a fairly new aircraft and had been delivered to Ethiopian Airlines last November.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to the crash site to assist with the investigation.
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