This adds to a long list of countries that have banned the model from their airspace after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday killing all 157 people on board.

They include Hong Kong, Vietnam and New Zealand, UK, China, Australia and the European Union.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has said it will not suspend Boeing 737 Max aircraft despite mounting pressure from senators and workers' unions.

The Max 8 that crashed on Sunday was one of 30 ordered as part of Ethiopian Airlines' expansion.

The plane was en route from Addis Ababa to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, when it crashed six minutes after take-off.