Ethiopian Airlines crash: Canada stands by 737 Max 8

Despite several airlines in Europe and across the world, grounding the Boeing 737 Max 8, after the fatal crash in Ethiopia, Canada said that it would not halt the operations until further investigations. About 18 Canadians were among the victims of the Sunday's crash in which 157 people were killed.

Montreal: Canada's Transportation Minister is standing by the country's stance on not grounding Air Canada's fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes.

"It's important for us not to jump to conclusions, but to evaluate in a very objective and logical way what happened," said Minister Marc Garneau.

"At the moment we have no information whatsoever to lead us to any hypothesis. And yet there are many possible causes of, of this tragic accident. So we are in the data gathering mode, we're looking for information."

Garneau's comments come as several airlines in Europe and around the world have grounded the planes after a fatal crash in Ethiopia on Sunday and one in Indonesia last year.

18 Canadians were among the victims of Sunday's crash.

Canada is working with the US Federal Aviation Authority to determine if action is required.

"I have directed my group of experts to be ready for all possibilities including a decision to ground Max 8," said Garneau.

"At this point we have not taken any decision because we want to as I say try to get as much information as possible before we make that decision."