The family of a Lahinch humanitarian worker who was killed in a plane crash in Ethiopia seven years ago has said they’ve got accountability.
Naoise Connolly Ryan took a civil case against Boeing following the death of her husband, Micheál ‘Mick’ Ryan, in March 2019.
Earlier this week, following a lengthy campaign for justice, she was awarded 29 million dollars in damages by a Chicago jury.
Shortly after 8.30am on March 10th, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 departed from Addis Ababa for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, with 149 passengers and eight crew on board.
Just minutes after take-off, the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft crashed, killing all 157 people on board.
In a statement to Clare FM, Naoise Connolly Ryan says they came to federal court, for a civil trial, because they wanted public accountability and got it.
She said “a jury decided this case, not Boeing” and “that makes the outcome so much more meaningful”.
She went on to say the civil case was never about the money and that she would never have taken this civil case if they had achieved justice through the criminal court system.
Now, she says, Boeing “has finally said, on the record, that they are 100% responsible for the crash”.
