A team of six lawyers on Wednesday said they will sue aircraft manufacturer Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines on behalf of eight Kenyan families whose kin died in a plane crash last month.
Speaking to journalists in Nairobi, the lawyers said they will file the case in the United States seeking compensation for the families over the March 10 plane crash.
Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata, one of six lawyers, asked other affected families to join the case and “not to be afraid of taking on the big American firm Boeing.”
Thirty-six Kenyans died in the ill-fated flight.
The plane crashed near Bishoftu town six minutes after take-off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.
Mr Carlos Velásquez, a lawyer from the United States who specialises in aviation law, wrongful death and personal injury, said that the affected families have a good case against the manufacturer in light of a similar crash of the Indonesian airlines.
He said they will be seeking compensation for the bereaved from all parties that were responsible for the accident.
The lawyers said they have already reached out to 10 families, eight of which have made verbal commitments and two have contracted them.