90 passengers are feared dead after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after take-off. Photo / AP

Four bodies have been recovered off the Lebanese coast where an Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 passengers went down earlier today.

A Lebanese military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said four bodies had been located at the crash site 3.5km west of the coastal village of Na’ameh.

The Boeing 737-800 took off from Beirut around 2:30am (1:10pm NZT) for the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, reportedly dropping off radar screens 45 minutes later and plunging into the sea.

The cause was not immediately known but police have ruled out terrorism and said the crash was likely weather-related. Beirut has seen heavy rain and lightning since Sunday.

”The weather undoubtedly was very bad,” Lebanon transport minister Ghazi al-Aridi said.

The wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon was among those on board.

A French embassy official confirmed Marla Pietton – wife of ambassador Denis Pietton – was a passenger on the flight.

Eighty-three passengers and 7 crew were on the plane. Aridi identified them as 54 Lebanese, 22 Ethiopians, one Iraqi, one Syrian, one Canadian of Lebanese origin, one Russian of Lebanese origin, a French woman and two Britons of Lebanese origin.

A witness, Abdel Mahdi Salaneh, told the BBC he saw the plane fall into the sea in flames.

”We saw a flash over the sea and it was the plane falling. The weather was really bad, it was all thunder and rain.”

According to Reuters, a spokesman for the British military stationed in Cyprus said they were on standby to provide assistance and that there were two UN helicopters on the scene.

Ethiopian Airlines released a statement on its website confirming the plane was missing.

”A team is already working on gathering all pertinent information,” the statement said. “An investigative team has already been dispatched to the scene and we will release further information as further updates are received.”

Calls to the airline were not immediately returned.

Ethiopian Airlines has long had a reputation for high-quality service compared to other African airlines, with two notable crashes in more than 20 years.

A hijacked Ethiopian Airlines jet crash-landed off the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean when it ran out of fuel in November 1996, killing 126 of the 175 people aboard. The plane had just left Addis Ababa when three hijackers stormed the cockpit and demanded to be taken to Australia.

In September 1988, an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed shortly after taking off when it ran into a flock of birds, killing 31 of the 104 people on board.

- AP, NZHERALD STAFF