Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he is deeply saddened by the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed 157 people, including 18 Canadians.
Trudeau said in a statement he joins the international community in mourning the dozens of lives lost when the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 headed for Nairobi went down minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa on Sunday morning. There were no survivors.
'On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our heartfelt condolences to those who have lost family, friends, and loved ones as a result of this tragedy,' Trudeau said.
'While the causes of the crash continue to be investigated, the safety and security of all Canadians remains our primary concern.'
Trudeau said the Canadian government is providing consular assistance and working with local authorities to gather further information.
He also said he is reaching out to Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to express his condolences.
In a statement released Sunday, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is deeply saddened by the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed 157 people, including 18 Canadians. 'On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our heartfelt condolences to those who have lost family, friends, and loved ones as a result of this tragedy,' he said (file photo)
The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 headed for Nairobi, Kenya, went down minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday morning. All 157 people onboard were killed
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has yet to respond to the crash that took the lives of eight Americans.
The Twitterer in Chief has been uncharacteristically quiet on social media since early Sunday morning, before the crash was reported.
The US State Department confirmed that Americans were among the crash victims.
President Donald Trump (seen Friday) has remained silent about the Sunday morning crash that took the lives of eight Americans
The department released a statement saying that US embassies in Addis Ababa and Nairobi are working with Ethiopia's government and Ethiopian Airlines 'to offer all possible assistance'.
The State Department says it will directly contact victims' family members and that 'out of respect for the privacy of the families, we won't have any additional comments about the victims'.
A list issued by Ethiopian Airlines revealed that victims hailed from 35 countries total.
Kenya had the most victims with 32, followed by Canada with 18, Ethiopia with nine and the US, Italy and China with eight each.
There were also seven each from France
