Addis Ababa, March 11 (IANS) Ethiopians and the diplomatic community are mourning the death of 157 people aboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed minutes after takeoff on Sunday.

The Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives has declared a national morning on Monday.

All Ethiopian government offices and diplomatic missions across the East African country, including the African Union (AU) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), are mourning the victims with flags at half mast.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, expressing his condolences to the families of passengers and crew members who were on board the ET 302 flight, assured them of investigations into the cause of the accident by technical experts.

Ahmed stressed the government "will promptly disclose updates on the deadly incident to the public", reported Xinhua news agency.

Leaders and people around the globe -- including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat -- have expressed their condolences.

The UN Secretary-General "was deeply saddened at the tragic loss of lives in the airplane crash," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan government has formed two emergency centres for those affected by the tragedy. Thirty-two victims of the crash were Kenyans.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost 18 nationals in the plane crash, in a statement on Sunday said "I am deeply saddened by the terrible plane crash."

Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Lu Kang extended profound condolences to the victims and deep sympathy to the bereaved families, and urged Ethiopian authorities to find out the cause of the crash.

The Nairobi-bound Boeing 737-8 MAX crashed on Sunday near Bishoftu town, about 45 kilometre from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, just minutes after takeoff from Bole International Airport, killing all 157 people on board.

--IANS pg/pcj