An Ethiopian airliner on Sunday crashed into Kenya carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members, a spokesman for the Ethiopian airline said on Sunday.

Local media reports said the accident left a number of casualties, noting that the Ethiopian plane, a Boeing 737-800 Max, was on its way to the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

“It was confirmed at 8.44 am local time,” said the spokesman, who asked not to be named. The plane took off from the capital, Addis Ababa.

The number of victims and the cause of the accident are unknown.

The company said the flight UT 302 crashed near the town of Peshoftwalti, about 62 km southeast of Addis Ababa.

According to the data on Flight Radar, the plane took off at 8:38 and crashed at 8:44, just 6 minutes after take-off.

The incident occurred today, just four months after the Ethiopian Airlines received this aircraft (November 2018).

According to media reports, the crashed plane of the same model Indonesian plane, which crashed on October 29 last.

The Indonesian plane also crashed just minutes after take-off (13 minutes), it said.