Britain joined a growing wave of suspensions of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft around the world on Tuesday, escalating the global alarm after a crash in Ethiopia that killed 157 people in the second such disaster for the model in the past few months.

The decision by one of the industry's most established regulators was the most serious setback yet for Boeing in the wake of Sunday's crash and put pressure on regulators in the rest of Europe and the United States to follow suit.

At the same time as London's announcement, Norwegian Air said it too would temporarily ground its MAX 8 passenger jets on the advice of European regulators.

Earlier, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Oman had also temporarily suspended the aircraft, following China, Indonesia and others the day before.

"The UK, Singapore and Australia are independent professionals," said Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia. "I am sure the (US) Federal Aviation Administration will take their judgement into account."

Sunday's disaster - after the fatal crash of a 737 MAX jet in Indonesia in October - has wiped billions of dollars off the market value of the world's biggest planemaker.

But experts say it is too early to speculate on the reason for the crash or whether the two are linked. Most crashes are caused by a unique chain of human and technical factors.

Given problems of identification at the charred disaster site, Ethiopian Airlines said it would take at least five days to start handing remains to families.

The victims came from more than 30 different nations, and included nearly two dozen UN staff.

"We are Muslim and have to bury our deceased immediately," Noordin Mohamed, a 27-year-old Kenyan businessman whose brother and mother died, told Reuters.

"Losing a brother and mother in the same day and not having their bodies to bury is very painful," he said in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where the plane had been due.