The families of over 300 victims of Boeing 737 Max plane crashes will receive $50 million in financial assistance, the company said on Monday.
Nigerian writer, Professor Pius Adesanmi, was part of 157 persons on board an ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 on March 10, 2019.
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The Boeing Financial Assistance Fund set aside for the victims’ relatives is half of a $100 million pledge “to address family and community needs of those affected by the tragedies,” announced in July.
Boeing said the other half of the fund will support education and economic empowerment in impacted communities.
The money works out to $144,500 to the families of each of the 346 victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which crashed just months apart, according to Reuters.
The company had in July hired attorney Kenneth Feinberg and his colleague, Camille Biros, to come up with a formula to determine how the money is allocated among the grieving families.
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The company’s CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the opening of the fund “is an important step in our efforts to help affected families.”
“The recent 737 MAX tragedies weigh heavily on all of us at Boeing, and we continue to extend our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of all those on board,” Muilenburg said in a statement.
Victims’ relatives have reacted with disgust at Boeing’s proposition.
Bob Clifford, who represents dozens of families affected by the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, told CNN Business earlier in September that the compensation offer from Boeing was “disingenuous” and “vague.”
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He said in a July statement that half of the fund for relief was a problem.
Mr Clifford added that if Boeing “wanted to give real relief to the families, they should work with the insurance partners of Ethiopian Airlines to expedite payments to the families.”
