- Title: Locals discuss condition of Ethiopian Airlines crash site four month
- Date: 10th July 2019
- Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (FILE - MARCH 2019) (CCTV - NO ACCESS CHINESE MAINLAND) VARIOUS OF GROUNDED BOEING 737 MAX 8 PLANE
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Boeing 737 MAX Boeing's plan to donate US$100 million Ethiopian Airlines crash site families of victims
- Location: BISHOFTU AND ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA / FARNBOROUGH, UK
- City: BISHOFTU AND ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA / FARNBOROUGH, UK
- Country: Ethiopia
- Topics: Africa,Air Accidents,Disaster/Accidents,Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVA004AN73LUF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Locals living around the site where an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in March say they are not happy with the pace at which various issues concerning the area are being handled after the air disaster.
The crash killed 157 people, brought a global suspension of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and left a charred, debris-strewn crater in a field near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, the capital.
Four months later, local residents like farmer Tesfaye Mulatu wonder what has happened to several promises they say were made about bringing development to the area around the site. Mulatu says he heard that a clinic and a road would be built.
"There has only been rhetoric. We thought they would deliver on their promises this Ethiopian year. We hear a lot of promises but nothing has been delivered yet," Mulatu said, while taking a break from ploughing his fields with a pair of oxen.
Flight 302 crashed minutes after take-off, leaving a hole 10 meters (33 feet) deep. The impact and fire left the plane in small fragments and destroyed the bodies of any passengers, leaving only remains.
Coming five months after another fatal crash involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger jet in Indonesia, Ethiopia's disaster has sparked a crisis in the international aviation industry.
Boeing's woes are not the pressing issue for people like local militia leader and farmer Malka Galato. Unlike Mulatu, his farmland rests inside the zone demarcated around the site. He says he is still waiting for compensation, along with several other members of the community who had signed documents presented by officials.
"At first it only involved land belonging to two people. Now I hear that the area where the federal police are stationed is also out of bounds, which makes it three. On the other side there are seven people whose land has been demarcated. The total is number of landowners affected is now 10. These people will not harvest this year," Geleto said.
Boeing 737 MAX disasters have killed a total of 346 people, triggered the global grounding of the aircraft and wiped billions off Boeing's market value.
The families of victims have criticized Boeing's plan to donate US$100 million to unspecified charities and communities affected by the two crashes, saying it was too vague and that families should have been consulted first.
Boeing said the multi-year payout was not connected to the lawsuits that more than 100 families have filed against it.
(Kumerra Gemechu, Okwi Okoh) - Copyright Holder: CCTV (China)
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