FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 repeatedly nose-dived before it crashed, a statement from the airline said, citing the preliminary report into the March 10 crash that was released on Thursday.

“Despite all their hard work and full compliance with emergency procedures, it was very unfortunate that they could not recover the airplane from the persistence (of) nose-diving,” the airline’s statement on Twitter said.