Families of victims of Ethiopian Airlines crash to receive Sh15m compensation
The families of victims of the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines plane crash of March 10, 2019 are set to receive $144,500 each (Sh15 million) from Boeing in compensation.
The compensation will come from a $50 million fund, announced by Boeing in July this year.
The bereaved families have been asked to submit their claims before the year 2020.
The compensation, however, does not take away a family member’s right to file a lawsuit against Boeing.
In March this year, a family member who lost a nephew in the plane crash revealed to the Sunday Nation that in a closed door session held between Ethiopian officials and family members, they were told that the compensation would pay compensation of between $170,000 (Sh17 million – Sh25 million) and $250,000 to the victims’ families, depending on age, profession and the victim’s position in life.
ILL-FATED PLANE
Boeing in July pledged $100 million to families and communities affected by the crash.
However, according to the BBC, the company later said half of that would be reserved for direct payments to families, with the other half set aside for education and development programmes in affected communities.
On March 10, 2019 an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max, which had just departed from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, crashed in Bishoftu, killing 149 passenger and eight crew members on board.
Thirty six of the victims were Kenyan nationals.
Following the fatal crash, the 737 Max Boeing aircrafts stopped its operations to allow for investigators to evaluate the safety of the airlines.