Britain, Germany, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Oman became the latest nations to suspend Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on Tuesday, while identification of the Ethiopian crash's 157 victims dragged and black boxes were yet to yield the cause. Boeing Co's shares fell more than 3 percent on Tuesday. Sunday's disaster — following another fatal crash of a 737 MAX jet in Indonesia five months ago — has caused alarm in the international aviation industry and wiped billions of dollars off the market value of the world's biggest planemaker. Given problems of identification at the charred disaster site, Ethiopia Airlines said it would take at least five days to start handing remains to families. Flight ET 302 came down in a field soon after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday, creating a fireball in a crater. It may take weeks or months to identify all the victims, who include a prize-winning author, a soccer official and a team of humanitarian workers. Ethiopian Airlines has grounded its four other 737 MAX 8 jets as a precaution and aviation authorities in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Oman followed China, Indonesia and others to temporarily suspend Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in and out of their airports. Anxiety was also evident among some travelers, who rushed to find out from social media whether they were booked to fly on 737 MAX planes — the same model involved in the Lion Air crash off Indonesia that killed 189 people in October. In Latin America, Gol in Brazil temporarily suspended MAX 8 flights, as did Argentina's state airline Aerolineas Argentinas and Mexico's Aeromexico . In Asia, South Korean budget carrier Eastar Jet said it would temporarily ground its two 737 MAX 8s from Wednesday, while India ordered additional checks on 737 MAX 8 aircraft but said a review found "no significant concern". Vietnam state media reported the aviation regulator would not issue licenses to local airlines to operate the 737 MAX until the cause of the Ethiopian crash was known. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates' civil aviation regulator said on Tuesday it had joined the investigation into Sunday's fatal crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane. The General Civil Aviation Authority will investigate with the United States' Federal Aviation Administration and planemaker Boeing, according to statement carried by state news agency WAM. — Agencies
