Grieving family members of people who died in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash, are being given sacks of earth to bury in place of the remains of their loved ones.

The Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa airport, en route to Nairobi in Kenya killing all 157 people on board.

Officials began delivering one-kilogramme sacks of scorched earth taken from the crash site yesterday, because identification process for the bodies is taking too long.

One family member who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid any possible government reprisal, said they will not rest until they are given the real body or body parts of their loved ones.

An Ethiopian government official who also asked not to be named, because they were not authorized to speak to reporters confirmed the deliveries of soil.

Reports indicate that Ethiopian orthodox churches, are assisting families of victims to bury the soil, which represents the bodies of the deceased.