All passengers onboard an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane that crashed shortly after takeoff have died, the airline and the state broadcaster say.

Ethiopian Airlines said on March 10 that 149 passengers and eight crewmembers were thought to be onboard the Boeing 737 that crashed on a flight from Addis Ababa to Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

The airline's CEO told journalists that the passengers included three Russians and one Serbian citizen.

In an earlier statement, Ethiopian Airlines said that the crash occurred near the town of Bishoftu, about 50 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, shortly after takeoff from the Ethiopian capital.

It also said that search and rescue operations were under way.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

The Ethiopian prime minister's office offered condolences to families of the victims