Chinelo Obogo
Boeing 737 Max air has said it will pay families who lost relatives in fatal crashes about $144,500 (£116,200) each.
The money comes from a $50m financial assistance fund, which Boeing announced in July. The fund has started accepting claims, which must be submitted before 2020.
Two fatal plane crashes rocked Boeing and the aviation industry, forcing the worldwide grounding of the Chicago-based company’s 737 Max airliners.
On November 28, 2018, a lion air flight crashed into the sea moments after takeoff in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. On March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. It was the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet in five months.
Two Nigerians, a professor and writer, Pius Adesanmi, and Ambassador Abiodun Bashua, a former Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan, were among the 157 people that died in the Ethiopian Airlines jet crash.
A friend of the Adesanmi family told Daily Sun that the family lawyer is working with Boeing on financial assistance for the family.
“The family lawyer is working with Boeing on the financial assistance.Three United States lawfirms are working for the family. They are on top of the situation,” the source said.
But lawyers for some other victims’ families, many of whom are pursuing the company in court, have dismissed the fund as a publicity stunt.
“$144,000 doesn’t come close to compensating any of our families or any of the families,” said Nomaan Husain, a Texas-based attorney who is representing 15 families.
“This is not something that is going to satisfy the families. The families really want answers.”
The 737 Max has been grounded since March, as investigators evaluate the airplane’s safety following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which claimed the lives of more than 340 people.
Boeing in July pledged $100m to families and communities affected by the crashes.
The company later said half would be reserved for direct payments to families, with the other half set aside for education and development programmes in affected communities.