Plane maker Boeing has been accused of playing “Russian Roulette” with the lives of three Brit humanitarian workers who were tragically killed in a plane crash in Ethiopia, an inquest has heard.
Aid workers Joanna Toole, 36, Samuel Pegram, 25, and Oliver Vick, 45, were among 157 people killed while travelling on a Boeing 737 Max 8 from Ethiopia to Nariobi in March 2019.
Since then, their families have spent years pressing the major manufacturer over why the dodgy plane was allowed to fly despite safety concerns stemming from a previous crash of the same plane just five months earlier.
Just five months before the crash in Ethiopia, all 189 people aboard a Boeing flight, also a 737 Max 8, died after it crashed head first into the Java Sea on a domestic flight between two Indonesian cities.
The inquest into the three Brits’ deaths in Ethiopia, that began in west Sussex today (July 10), is looking at whether the American multinational was responsible for the unlawful killing of the people onboard.
The victims’ families were insistent that the 106-year-old plane maker had blood on its hands, and are seeking an unlawful killing verdict.
The mother of Sam, who worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, Deborah told the inquest: "Boeing played Russian Roulette with people's lives and they should be held responsible for the deaths."
Sam’s dad, Mark, added: "[The] people who were responsible just carry on with their lives.
"The dishonesty and deceit they have shown is the complete opposite of Sam's values."
Meanwhile, Oliver, who was posthumously praised by former Prime Minister Theresa May and former US President Jimmy Carter for his work with the UN, was “stolen” from the world by Boeing’s heartless profiteering, his mum claimed.
Oliver’s mum Cheryl added: "We are so proud of the man our boy became. The grief, shock and horror will always be with us.
"No day can ever be the same again without my beautiful boy."
The two international crashes in 2018 and 2019 forced Boeing to ground all 737 Max 8 in its fleet for two years, and resulted in the company being charged with conspiracy to defraud the US in January 2021.
Top US prosecutors alleged that problems with its dodgy flight stabilisation programme, the MCAS system, were hidden from America’s air regulators during its certification process.
The faulty MCAS system has since been blamed for being the cause of both the Ethiopia and Indonesia crashes.
The inquest is years in the making, after the publication of the Air Accident Report was delayed over a four year period.
The damning report says that there were no possible external events that could have caused the crash, and took any blame away from the pilots.
The inquest is ongoing.
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