China and Cayman Islands have also grounded the plane which was involved in another crash shortly after taking off from Jakarta airport less than five months ago. More than 180 people died there.

There is no hard evidence linking the crashes of the Boeing 737 Max of Ethiopian Airlines near Addis Ababa yesterday and the Lion Air flight at Jakarta last year.

But the US plane maker is under pressure to guarantee the safety of the new aircraft that is described as its best-selling to date.

The Lion Air crash has been put down to problems involving the automated stabilisation mechanism,

Investigators will be looking for any similarities with the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines flight. 

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