MANILA - A young doctor was among the 8 people who lost their lives when a Japan-bound plane erupted in flames during takeoff at the Manila airport this weekend, his sister said.
Dr. Nicko Bautista, 33, was on the Lionair-operated Westwind aircraft that was headed for Haneda airport Sunday, said his sister Ria. None of the medical evacuation mission's 6 crew members and 2 passengers, an American and a Canadian, had survived, investigators earlier said.
"No words can describe how devastating it is to lose a family member in such a horrific way. How do you process something like this. How," Ria, a singer-song writer, wrote on Facebook.
"All I know is that he fought like a hero and I can only hope that his fight would not be in vain. RIP, Nicko. I love you my brother. I will honor you forever," she added.
In a separate statement, the Department of Health said that hours before the accident, "the pilot and crew members just finished transporting health commodities and supplies to Zamboanga, Mactan, Iloilo, and Butuan."
"We would like to offer our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the victims involved in the crash. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time," the DOH added.
Bautista was a doctor at the Mandaluyong City Medical Center's surgery department, said his sister.
He had said that he "can't wait" for the novel coronavirus epidemic to end so that he could spend time with his family and friends.
"I can't wait to not think about if I'm going to be sick or not. If I'm going to be another number of the census board... Let's fight this, and in all honesty, I'm scared as hell," he said in a Facebook post, a screenshot of which was shared by Ria.
In a separate post, Bautista also urged patients to disclose their travel history, after one COVID-19 patient's failed to do so and passed the disease to a doctor, which led to his death.
"When you lie, we die... Consider your actions. We try our best to protect you from this horrid disease, but who will protect us? Kindly do your part. Stay at home. Don't lie to your doctors. Check your privilege," he said last March 21.
It was not immediately clear what caused the plane crash, which the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said might take a year to investigate.
Lionair is also the owner of a medical evacuation aircraft that crashed in Calamba, Laguna and left 9 dead in September last year. Authorities are still investigating the incident, said CAAP.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON -- Boeing Co said on Wednesday it would dedicate half of a $100 million fund it created after two crashes of its 737 MAX planes to provide payments to families of those killed, with veteran US compensation expert Ken Feinberg hired by the world's largest plane maker to oversee the distribution.
The announcement of Feinberg's hiring came minutes before a US House of Representatives hearing featuring dramatic testimony by Paul Njoroge, a father who lost 3 children, his wife and mother-in-law in a 737 MAX Ethiopian Air crash in March.
Feinberg told Reuters his team would "start immediately drafting a claims protocol for those eligible," with the first meeting with officials from Chicago-based Boeing later this week in Washington. Feinberg has administered many compensation funds including for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, General Motors ignition switch crashes and numerous school shootings.
The 737 MAX, Boeing's best-selling jet, was grounded globally in March following the Ethiopian Airlines crash after a similar Lion Air disaster in Indonesia in October. The 2 crashes killed 346 people.
Njoroge, 35, told reporters after he testified he did not think the public would trust Boeing going forward. "Do you want to fly in those planes? Do you want your children to fly in those planes?" Njoroge asked. "I don't have any more children."
Njoroge told a House subcommittee he still has "nightmares about how (his children) must have clung to their mother crying" during the doomed flight.
Njoroge, who was born in Kenya and lives in Canada, said Boeing has blamed "innocent pilots who had no knowledge and were given no information of the new and flawed MCAS system that could overpower pilots."
Boeing did not address specific questions raised by Njoroge but said in a statement "we truly regret the loss of lives in both of these accidents and we are deeply sorry for the impact to the families and loved ones of those on board."
A Boeing official told Reuters last month that after a new software flaw emerged the company would not submit an MCAS software upgrade and training revision until September, which means the planes will not resume flying until November at the earliest. US airlines have canceled flights through early November as a result of the 737 MAX's grounding.
Boeing shares closed up 1.9 percent Wednesday.
Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell told Fox Business Network on Wednesday that the agency has made a lot of progress since the plane's grounding.
"We have discovered some anomalies and then we have directed Boeing to mitigate those anomalies," Elwell said, declining to set any timetable for returning the plane to service.
"The 737 MAX is not going to fly until it passes the most thorough and intense look," said Elwell, adding that he had spent several hours with Njoroge during a recent meeting.
Boeing said on July 3 it would give $100 million over multiple years to local governments and non-profit organizations to help families and communities affected by the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Feinberg, who will jointly administer the fund with lawyer Camille Biros, said the other $50 million in the fund was earmarked for government and community projects.
Boeing reiterated on Wednesday that the money distributed through the fund would be independent from the outcome of any lawsuits. The company is facing a slew of litigation from the families of victims of both crashes.
"Through our partnership with Feinberg and Biros, we hope affected families receive needed assistance as quickly and efficiently as possible," Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement.
Boeing's initial announcement of the $100 million fund was met with anger by some victims' families, who described the offer as a publicity stunt.
At the hearing in Washington, Representative Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said he would call Boeing officials to testify at a hearing. DeFazio said the committee was in the middle of an in-depth investigation and had just received a "trove" of documents that panel investigators were reviewing.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
CHICAGO, United States - Boeing co-chief executive Dennis Muilenburg will face shareholders on Monday for the first time since 2 fatal crashes that led to the 737 MAX's grounding worldwide and triggered investigations, lawsuits and a sharp loss in share value.
Battling the biggest crisis of his tenure, Muilenburg will try to bolster investor confidence in the manufacturer's future as well as that of its fastest-selling airplane as questions linger over the model's safety.
Family and friends of 24-year-old American Samya Stumo, one of the victims of the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX on March 10, will hold a silent protest outside the meeting site.
That crash, which killed all 157 on board when it plunged to the ground shortly after takeoff, came five months after a similar Lion Air nose-dive that killed all 189 passengers and crew.
Muilenburg will hold his first press conference since the grounding after the general annual shareholder meeting in Chicago, scheduled for (10 p.m. in Manila).
Boeing is under pressure to deliver a software fix and a new pilot training package that will convince global regulators, and the flying public, that the aircraft is safe to fly again.
The US Federal Aviation Administration could clear Boeing the 737 MAX jet to fly in late May or the first part of June, 2 people familiar with the matter said on Friday, though Boeing has yet to submit the updated software and training for review.
Some pilots have warned that draft training proposals do not go far enough to address their concerns.
Meanwhile, deliveries of the 737 MAX, which airlines around the world had been relying on to service a growing air travel industry for years to come, are on hold.
Last week Boeing abandoned its 2019 financial outlook, halted share buybacks and said lowered production due to the 737 MAX grounding had cost it at least $1 billion so far.
Shareholders have filed a lawsuit accusing the company of defrauding them by concealing safety deficiencies in the plane. The model is also the target of investigations by US transportation authorities and the Department of Justice.
Muilenburg is Boeing's chairman and president in addition to CEO, and faces calls that could strip him of one of those titles at Monday's meeting. Boeing has recommended against the move.
Boeing must also contend with lawsuits filed on behalf of dozens of victims of the 2 crashes, including the family of Stumo, who are asking whether the Ethiopian disaster could have been prevented after what happened to Lion Air.
"Those in charge of creating and selling this plane did not treat Samya as they would their own daughters," her mother Nadia Milleron told reporters in early April.
Shares in the company, worth $214 billion, have lost nearly 10 percent of their value since the March 10 crash.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
