Boeing ‘should face trial over air disaster deaths’
Irish widow in call after firm gets €2bn fine
THE widow of an Irish UN worker killed in a plane crash in 2019 has called for the aircraft company to be charged with manslaughter.
Naoise Ryan, whose humanitarian aid worker husband Mick died along with 156 others, says Boeing should be prosecuted rather than just fined.
The Co Clare woman spoke out after the manufacturer was fined $2.5billion (€2bn) for misleading regulators about the safety of its 737 Max planes.
She said her lawyers and relatives of other victims of the crash are still waiting for answers on a number of issues relating to the crash.
She said imposing a fine on Boeing, after it was found to be “playing Russian roulette with people’s lives”, simply beggared belief.
She said the company should have been prosecuted for fraud after the first fatal crash in Indonesia in October 2018, which killed all 189 people on board. She added: “They knew this plane was defective and there would be further crashes and loss of life.
“After the second crash, they should have been tried and prosecuted for the manslaughter of 346 people. Instead, they get away with a fine.” Ms Ryan, a civil engineer, has lodged a submission with the EU Aviation Safety Agency outlining why the Max should not be cleared to fly. In all, 346 people died in two 737 Max air crashes just months apart. It was grounded worldwide after the March 2019 crash in which Mr Ryan died. The US justice department said Boeing had agreed to pay a fine to settle a criminal conspiracy charge for misleading regulators about the safety of its 737 Max plane.