GARA-BOKKA, Ethiopia: The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed killing 157 people was making a rattling noise and trailed smoke and debris as it flew above a field of cows before hitting earth, according to witnesses.
Thailand's aviation regulator on Monday rejected calls that it follow the Chinese lead and ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet of budget carrier Thai Lion Air. It is the only Thai airline flying the now controversial aircraft.
The same model of plane, operated by Lion Air, crashed in Indonesia in October, killing all 189 people on board.
Chula Sukmanop, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), said there is no need for such an order.
He effectively criticised China's decision to ground all 737 MAX 8 aircraft indefinitely.
"It's up to each country's regulator" whether to ground aircraft, he said. Thai Lion Air flies three of the new 737 aircraft.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 took off from the Ethiopian capital on Sunday morning bound for Nairobi with passengers from more than 30 countries. All on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 died.
The pilot had requested permission to return, saying he was having problems - but it was too late.
Witnesses interviewed in the farmland where the plane came down reported smoke billowing out behind, and also described a loud sound.
"It was a loud rattling sound. Like straining and shaking metal," said Turn Buzuna, a 26-year-old housewife and farmer who lives about 300 meters from the crash site.
Tamirat Abera, 25, was walking past the field at the time. He said the plane turned sharply, trailing white smoke and items like clothes and papers, then crashed about 300 meters away.
"It tried to climb but it failed and went down nose first," he said. "There was fire and white smoke which then turned black."
At the site, Red Cross workers in masks sifted through victims' belongings. Children's books lay near a French-English dictionary burnt along one edge. A woman's handbag lay open next to an empty bottle of perfume.
The aircraft was broken into small pieces, the largest among them a wheel and a dented engine. The debris was spread over land roughly the size of two football fields.
Investigators found two black box recorders on Monday, which will help piece together the plane's final minutes.
