Ethiopian Airlines CEO Girma Wake confirmed the deadly crash of one of his company's Boeing 737-800s.

 

It happened here, off the coast of Lebanon.

 

Witnesses described a "ball of fire" plummeting into the ocean.

 

All 82 passengers and 8 crew on board are feared dead.

 

Remains of mangled airplane seats and luggage have washed up on the shore south of the capital, Beirut.

 

Less than half of the bodies have so far been recovered as Lebanese army patrol boats, helicopters and divers scour the area.

 

The Lebanese government declared a day of mourning as relatives wait anxiously for news of missing loved ones.

 

Lebanon's prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, visited the airport to brief relatives of the victims about the search efforts.

 

[Saad al-Hariri, Lebanese Prime Minister]:

''All our efforts are concentrated on finding those who are missing. We are doing everything we can to find them. We have also sent teams of divers to recover the black box in order to find out what really happened to the plane and why it crashed.''

 

The cause of the crash has not been confirmed but stormy weather at the time of take-off may have played a part. 

 

The plane, built in 2002, last underwent a maintenance check on December 25 and no technical problems were reported.