The families of Pius Adesanmi and other victims of the Boeing 737 Max air crashes, are to receive $144,500 from the plane manufacturer, if they choose to submit claims before 2020.
The payout is part of a $100 million financial assistance fund approved by the Chicago-based aircraft maker in July.
“$144,000 doesn’t come close to compensating any of our families or any of the families,” Nomaan Husain, a Texas-based attorney who is representing 15 families, is quoted as saying by the BBC.
Half of the assistance cash will be spent on academic and developmental projects in communities affected by the crashes, while the other half will be used to make direct payments to the families of victims, the company had announced earlier.
“This is not something that is going to satisfy the families. The families really want answers.”
The BBC reports Robert Clifford, lead counsel for the victims of the Ethiopian airlines crash, as saying that families saw the initial announcement as a ‘diversionary tactic.’
He said they would like to have more detail on the specifics of what the half on education and development would be used for.
“One of the most haunting things about an aviation disaster like this is that the families do not in many instances get anything back,” he said. Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s chief executive describes the opening of the compensation as an important step in the firm’s efforts to help relatives of the people who died in the Boeing 737 Max crashes.
According to the BBC, Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of the compensation, said families who apply for the cash will not have to waive their right to sue.
Pius Adesanmi had met his death on March 10 2019, on a trip from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Nairobi in Kenya.
This was the second crash in five months of the 737 max model. Another had happened on October 10 2019 in Indonesia. Both disasters led to the grounding of all models of the aircraft.
An investigation into a software that was automated to force the plane down to prevent it from stalling, was instituted by the USA’s aviation regulator. The craft remains grounded, with uncertainties as to whether it would be allowed to fly again this year.
This will lead to it paying compensation to airlines who have been unable to fly the craft. About 393 makes of the model were built as at March 2019.