Among the 157 people on board were eight Chinese passengers. CGTN's Sun Ye has their stories.

Eight Chinese, five men, three women are confirmed dead from the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.

Among them, Jin Yetao from Aviation Industry of China International (AVIC INTL) and Zhou Yuan, with China Electronic Technology Group Corporation.

The companies told CGTN they are shocked and deeply saddened over their losses.

XIONG TAO VICE PRESIDENT, AVIC-INTL PROJECT ENGINEERING COMPANY "Our hearts are broken by the news. Now we're assisting Jin's wife with all things we can. She is leaving for Ethiopia later tonight. And while we're in great grief, work continues."

ZHANG PENG CHAIRPERSON OF LABOR UNION，CETC "We still can't believe this happened. It's with sorrow that we now start emergency procedures. Our emergency response team landed in Ethiopia Monday afternoon local time, and has started to work with the help of the Chinese embassy there. Zhou Yuan's relatives are heading there soon. Zhou was so dear to us all. And we at CETC are sad, but resolve to work as hard as Zhou did."

While the investigation of the crash is still underway, China's Civil Aviation Authority on Monday grounded all of its commercial Boeing 737 MAX 8's.

Chinese airlines are reported to have an estimated 96 such planes.

WANG YANAN EDITOR IN CHIEF, AEROSPACE KNOWLEDGE MAGAZINE "China has responded very quickly to the incident. This has come from a high sense of responsibility for passengers. After all, the model has seen similar incidents in similar situations within less than 6 months. Even though no conclusion can be drawn at this early stage of the investigation, it's good to act on the safe side."

Wang expects the incident not to affect the model's Chinese operations in the long run, citing quick resolution and adjustment as the industry's practice.

SY, CGTN, BJ.