埃航客機失事無人生還 機上8名中國乘客遇難

An Ethiopian Airlines jet has crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all on board.

當地時間10日，埃塞俄比亞航空公司一架飛機從亞的斯亞貝巴起飛不久後墜毀，機上無人生還。

The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.

這架ET302航班上共有149名乘客和8名機組成員，原計劃從埃塞俄比亞首都亞的斯亞貝巴飛往肯尼亞首都內羅畢。

The crash happened at 08:44 local time, six minutes after the months-old Boeing 737 Max-8 took off.

墜機事故發生在當地時間上午8點44分，飛機起飛後僅6分鐘便墜毀。這架波音737 Max-8機型的飛機交付使用只有幾個月時間。

Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190 people on board.

不到五個月前，同型號機型發生過另一起墜機事故。當時印尼獅航一架波音737 Max-8墜毀在印尼附近海域，機上有近190人。

The cause of the disaster is not yet clear. However, the pilot had reported difficulties and had asked to return to Addis Ababa, the airline said.

事故原因尚不清楚。但埃航表示，飛行員起飛後曾報告遇到困難，要求返航。

"At this stage, we cannot rule out anything," Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.

埃航首席執行官特沃多·格布勒瑪里亞姆在亞的斯亞貝巴博萊機場告訴記者說：“在目前階段，我們無法排除任何可能。”

"We cannot also attribute the cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation."

“我們也不能追究任何原因，因爲我們將遵守國際規範，靜待調查結果。”

Visibility was said to be good but air traffic monitor Flightradar24 reported that the plane's "vertical speed was unstable after take-off".

據說事發時機場能見度良好，但據航空監測應用Flightradar24表示，“飛機起飛後垂直速度不穩”。

An eyewitness at the scene told the BBC there was an intense fire as the aircraft hit the ground.

一位目擊者告訴英國廣播公司說，墜機事故發生後，地上燃起大火。

"The blast and the fire were so strong that we couldn't get near it," he said. "Everything is burnt down."

他說：“爆炸和火勢非常猛烈，我們無法靠近，一切都燒燬了。”

The plane was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines on November 15 last year. It underwent a "rigorous first check maintenance" on February 4, the airline tweeted.

這架飛機於去年11月15日交付使用。埃航在推特中說，飛機在2月4日進行了“嚴格的首次維護”。

Mr Gebremariam told the news conference that passengers from more than 30 countries were on board the flight.

格布勒瑪里亞姆在記者會上說，機上乘客來自30多個國家。

He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven Britons, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Germans, four Indians and four people from Slovakia.

乘客中有32名肯尼亞人，18名加拿大人，9名埃塞俄比亞人，8名意大利人，8名中國人，8名美國人，7名英國人，7名法國人，6名埃及人，5名德國人，4名印度人，和4名斯洛伐克人。

One person held a UN passport, the airline said. It believed some passengers could have been heading to a session of the UN Environment Assembly which begins in Nairobi on Monday.

埃航表示，其中一名乘客持有聯合國護照。據稱一些乘客是搭乘飛機參加本週一在內羅畢召開的聯合國環境署會議。

A UN source also told Agence France-Presse that "at least a dozen of the victims were affiliated with the UN", and that this may include freelance translators.

聯合國一名消息人士告訴法新社說，“至少有12名遇難者爲聯合國工作”，其中可能包括自由譯員。

World Food Programme executive director David Beasley said seven members of agency staff had died in the crash.

世界糧食計劃署執行理事大衛·比斯利說，有7名職員在事故中遇難。

Ethiopia has declared Monday a national day of mourning.

埃塞俄比亞宣佈本週一爲全國哀悼日。

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the crash, adding: "We join the international community in mourning the loss of so many lives."

加拿大總理賈斯廷·特魯多說，他聽到墜機的消息後“非常悲痛”，“我們和世界各國的人們共同哀悼如此多鮮活生命的離去。”

UK PM Theresa May tweeted her condolences:

英國首相特蕾莎梅在推特上表達了她的哀悼：

António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, also tweeted about the crash.

聯合國祕書長安東尼奧·古特雷斯也在推特上表達了哀思：

The 737 Max-8 aircraft is relatively new to the skies, having only been in commercial use since 2017.

737 Max-8型號的飛機問世時間並不久，2017年開始才投入商業使用。

Boeing said it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and offered to send a team to provide technical assistance.

波音公司表示，對墜機“非常悲痛”，會派出團隊提供技術支持。

The anti-stalling system repeatedly forced the plane's nose down, despite efforts by pilots to correct this, findings suggest.

調查表明，儘管飛行員努力糾正，但飛機的防失速控制系統屢次迫使飛機機頭向下。