By Sultan Bin Bandar

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — A Saudi national was among the 157 people aboard Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines ET 302 which crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday morning.

Saudi Ambassador to Ethiopia Abdullah Al-Arjani told Okaz that the Saudi citizen was working in the recruitment sector and was heading to Nairobi.

Al-Arjani said the family of the deceased contacted the Saudi Embassy in Addis Ababa. “We are working with the pertinent authorities to locate the body of the Saudi citizen,” Al-Arjani added.

A list of 35 nationalities was tweeted by Ethiopian Airlines, with no distinction made between the 149 passengers and eight crew.

The count is not final: Africa: Kenya 32, Ethiopia 9, Egypt 6, Morocco 2, Djibouti 1, Mozambique 1, Rwanda 1, Sudan 1, Somalia 1, Togo 1, Uganda 1, Nigeria 1.

Americas: Canada 18, United States 8. Asia: China 8, India 4, Indonesia 1, Nepal 1. Europe: Italy 8, France 7, Britain 7, Germany 5, Slovakia 4, Russia 3, Austria 3, Sweden 3, Spain 2, Poland 2, Belgium 1, Ireland 1, Norway 1, Serbia 1. Middle East: Israel 2, Saudi Arabia 1, Yemen 1.

Other: UN passport 1.

The crash raised questions about the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, a new model that also crashed in Indonesia in October.

Sunday›s flight left Bole airport in Addis Ababa at 8:38 a.m. (0538 GMT), before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8:44 a.m.

There are no survivors,» the airline tweeted alongside a picture of CEO Tewolde GebreMariam holding up a piece of debris inside a large crater at the crash site. — With agencies