HEJERE, Ethiopia -- Airlines in Ethiopia, China, Indonesia and elsewhere grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner Monday after the second devastating crash of one of the planes in five months. But Boeing said it had no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies.
As the East African country mourned the 157 victims of the Ethiopian Airlines plane that went down in clear weather shortly after takeoff Sunday, investigators found the jetliner's two flight recorders at the crash site outside the capital, Addis Ababa.
An airline official said one of the recorders was partially damaged, adding, "We will see what we can retrieve from it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.
A witness to Sunday's crash said smoke was emanating from the rear of the plane before it hit the ground.
"Before falling down, the plane rotated two times in the air, and it had some smoke coming from the back, then it hit the ground and exploded," Tamrat Abera said. "When the villagers and I arrived at the site, there was nothing except some burning and flesh."
Ethiopian authorities are leading the investigation into the crash, assisted by the U.S., Kenya and others.
The crash was similar to that of a Lion Air jet of the same model in Indonesian seas last year. That crash killed 189 people. Sunday's crash is renewing questions about the 737 Max 8, the newest version of Boeing's single-aisle airliner, which was first introduced in 1967 and has become the world's most common passenger jet.
Besides the groundings by airlines in Ethiopia, China and Indonesia, Caribbean carrier Cayman Airways, Comair in South Africa and Royal Air Maroc in Morocco temporarily grounded their Max 8s.
India's aviation watchdog issued safety instructions Monday for flying the 737 Max 8. Directions call for the pilot-in-command to have at least 1,000 hours of flying experience and for the co-pilot to have 500 hours on Boeing 737 Next Generation-type aircraft.
Ethiopian Airlines decided to ground its remaining four 737 Max 8s until further notice as "an extra safety precaution," spokesman Asrat Begashaw said. The carrier is awaiting delivery of 25 more.
Chicago-based Boeing said it did not intend to issue any new recommendations about the aircraft to its customers. It plans to send a technical team to the crash site to help investigators, and it issued a statement saying it was "deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew" on the jetliner.
Among the airlines still using the plane are Southwest, American and Air Canada.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration signaled confidence Monday in the safety of the 737 Max, issuing a global notice of "continued airworthiness." Boeing is working on improvements to the plane's flight-control system, and the FAA plans to publish a related directive to operators no later than April.
"External reports are drawing similarities between this accident and the Lion Air Flight 610 accident on October 29, 2018," the FAA said. "However, this investigation has just begun and to date we have not been provided data to draw any conclusions or take any actions."
The plane that crashed Sunday was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines in November. The jet's last maintenance was on Feb. 4, and it had flown just 1,200 hours.
The 737 is the best-selling airliner in history. The Max, the newest version of the 737, with more fuel-efficient engines, is a central part of Boeing's strategy to compete with European rival Airbus. Boeing's stock fell 5.3 percent to $400.01 on Monday.
THE VICTIMS
People from 35 countries died in the crash, which happened six minutes after takeoff on a flight from Ethiopia's capital to Nairobi, Kenya. Ethiopian Airlines said the senior pilot, Yared Getachew, issued a distress call and was told to return, but all contact was lost shortly afterward. The plane plowed into the ground in Hejere near Bishoftu, scattering debris.
"I heard this big noise," resident Tsegaye Reta said. "The villagers said that it was a plane crash, and we rushed to the site. There was a huge smoke that we couldn't even see the plane. The parts of the plane were falling apart."
Kenya lost 32 people, more than any other country. In Addis Ababa, members of an association of Ethiopian airline pilots wept for their dead colleagues. Framed photos of seven crew members sat in chairs at the front of a crowded room.
The campus of Kenyatta University in Kenya mourned the death of Isaac Mwangi, a lecturer in the department of education, communication and technology, and Agnes Gathumbi, a director of teacher professional development.
Mwangi wrote dissertations on using technology in secondary education and worked on projects related to integrating images and graphics into the teaching of poetry. Gathumbi published dozens of papers, including one on how administrators react differently to graffiti scrawled by girls instead of boys. She had received certifications in French, African storybook writing, computer studies and other areas from across the world, including institutions in Britain and Slovakia.
Hussein Swaleh, the 52-year-old former head of the governing body for Kenyan soccer, was also among those who died on the flight, according to Barry Otieno, the federation's spokesman.
"It's a sad day for football in Kenya, very sad day," Otieno said.
Canada, Ethiopia, the U.S., China, Italy, France, Britain, Egypt, Germany, India and Slovakia all lost four or more citizens.
At least 21 staff members from the United Nations were killed in the crash, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who led a moment of silence at a meeting where he said that "a global tragedy has hit close to home."
Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are major hubs for humanitarian workers, and some had been on their way to a large U.N. environmental conference in Nairobi. The U.N. flag at the event flew at half-staff. Four were employees of Catholic Relief Services, all of them Ethiopian citizens traveling to Nairobi for training.
In Nigeria, the government confirmed the death of Abiodun Bashua, a former ambassador who had been working with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
The World Food Program said seven of its staff members had died in the crash, the most of any U.N. organization. The program's work focuses on widespread hunger caused by war or instability in Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, among other countries.
World Food Program victims included Ekta Adhikari of Nepal, who had worked for the program in Ethiopia; Michael Ryan of Ireland, who had helped Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh prepare for seasonal monsoons; and Zhen-Zhen Huang of China, who had worked in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Two Spaniards were on the flight. Jordi Dalmau Sayol, 46, was a Catalan chemical engineer who was on a business trip. He was working for a water infrastructure company that was awarded a water desalination project in Kenya, according to the Spanish daily La Vanguardia.
Pilar Martinez Docampo, 32, worked for an aid organization and was traveling to Kenya to give language classes to children, according to La Opinion, a newspaper in her home region of Galicia, in northwestern Spain.
Six members of a Canadian family heading for a safari vacation were among the 18 Canadians killed in the crash. The Peel District School Board said Monday that 14-year-old Ashka Dixit and 13-year-old Anushka Dixit were with their parents and grandparents on the plane.
Their uncle, Manant Vaidya, said the family vacation to Kenya was supposed to be the first visit for his sister to her birthplace in decades. He said the teenage girls were excited about plans to go on a safari. He said they wanted to see all the animals without cages.
Information for this article was contributed by Elias Meseret, Yidnek Kirubel, Niniek Karmini, Edith M. Lederer and David Koenig of The Associated Press; by Dionne Searcey and Mike Ives of The New York Times; and by Alan Levin and Julie Johnsson of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 03/12/2019