Identities of the victims from 35 countries started to emerge as foreign governments and the United Nations reacted with shock.

“Deeply saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the lives of all on board,” tweeted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Among the dead were tourists, business travellers, and “at least a dozen” UN staff, according to an agency source, including some who worked for the World Food Programme, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the International organisation for Migration, and the World Bank.

Many were headed for an annual assembly of the UN Environment Programme, which opens in Nairobi Monday with some 4,700 heads of state, ministers, business leaders, senior UN officials and civil society representatives.

Slovak MP Anton Hrnko was among the bereaved.

“It is with deep sorrow that I announce that my dear wife, Blanka, son Martin and daughter Michala, died in the air disaster in Addis Ababa this morning,” he wrote on Facebook.

Flight ET 302 ploughed into a field 60 kilometres (37 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa on what the airline’s CEO Tewolde GebreMariam labelled a “very sad and tragic day”.

An eyewitness said the plane came down in flames.

“The plane was already on fire when it crashed to the ground. The crash caused a big explosion,” Tegegn Dechasa recounted at the site, littered with passenger belongings, human remains, and aeroplane parts around a massive crater at the point of impact.

“The plane was in flames in its rear side soon before the crash. The plane was swerving erratically before the crash.”

Local farmer Sisay Gemechu said he heard a loud noise as he was on his way to fetch water.

“The plane seemed to be aiming to land at a nearby level open field, but crashed before reaching there,” he said.

The Boeing 737-800MAX was brand new, delivered to state-owned Ethiopian Airways on November 15, said the carrier, Africa’s largest.

The plane is the same type as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October, 13 minutes after take-off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

Ethiopian Airlines said the plane had taken off at 8:38am from Bole International Airport and “lost contact” six minutes later.

It came down near Tulu Fara village outside the town of Bishoftu.

“We can only hope that she is not on that flight,” Peter Kimani, who had come to fetch his sister at Nairobi’s JKIA, said after news of the disaster reached those waiting in the arrivals hall.

Relatives, friends, and colleagues of passengers were frantically waiting for information at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

“I am waiting for my colleague, I just hope for the best,” said Hannah, a Chinese national.

Loved ones were later brought to the on-site Sheraton Hotel where they were debriefed and offered counselling. Journalists were not allowed in, but could hear sobbing from inside.

Ethiopian Airlines said Kenya had the largest number of casualties with 32, followed by Canada with 18, Ethiopia nine, then Italy, China and the United States with eight each.

CCTV said the eight Chinese included one from Hong Kong, based on a list provided by China’s embassy in Kenya.

The network named the Hong Kong resident as Tsang Ching-ngai, who it said worked for a United Nations environment programme.

Two of the mainland Chinese CCTV identified worked for state-owned companies – Zhou Yuan, from China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, and Jin Yetao of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

Britain and France each had seven people on board, Egypt six, and Germany five, according to the airline. France’s government later gave a different figure of eight French victims.

African Union commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat spoke of “utter shock and immense sadness”, while Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the IGAD East African bloc, said the region and the world were in mourning.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and his British counterpart Theresa May both described the news as “devastating”.

Sympathy messages also came from the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Britain, Germany, France and the United States.

GebreMariam said the plane had flown in from Johannesburg earlier on Sunday, spent three hours in Addis and was “dispatched with no remark”, meaning no problems were flagged.

Asked if the pilot had made a distress call, the CEO said “the pilot mentioned that he had difficulties and he wants to return. He was given clearance” to turn around.

Ethiopian and international investigators will probe the crash, said GebreMariam.

For one family member in Nairobi there was a happy ending.

Khalid Ali Abdulrahman was waiting for his son who works in Dubai and feared the worst when a security official told him the plane had crashed.

“I was shocked, but soon after, my son contacted me and told me he is still in Addis and did not board that flight.”

US aerospace giant Boeing issued a statement about the disaster.

“Boeing is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a 737 MAX 8 aeroplane,” the company said in a statement. “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board and stand ready to support the Ethiopian Airlines team.”

The company said a “technical team” was ready to provide help.

The single-aisle Boeing 737 MAX is one of the world’s newest and most advanced commercial passenger jets. But the company has come under fire for possible glitches with the plane, including the Lion Air crash in October.

The Lion Air cockpit data recorder showed the jet’s airspeed indicator malfunctioned on its last four flights, though Lion Air initially claimed problems with the aircraft had been fixed.

By the end of January, Boeing had delivered 350 MAX jets out of the total order tally of 5,011 aircraft.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co is the biggest operator of the MAX 8, with 31 aircraft, followed by American Airlines Group Inc and Air Canada with 24 each.

Southwest is in contact with Boeing and “remains confident in the safety and airworthiness of its fleet of more than 750 Boeing aircraft,” spokesman Chris Mainz said in a statement.

American and Air Canada said they were closely monitoring the investigation.

The last deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane was in 2010, when a plane went down minutes after take-off from Beirut killing all 90 people on board.

Sunday’s crash came after Ahmed vowed to open up the airline and other sectors to foreign investment in a major transformation of the state-centred economy.

Ethiopian Airlines has been expanding assertively, recently opening a route to Moscow and in January inaugurating a new terminal in Addis Ababa to triple capacity.

Speaking at the inauguration, the prime minister challenged the airline to build a new “Airport City” terminal in Bishoftu – where Sunday’s crash occurred.

Associated Press, Agence France-Presse