Daily Times

Eleven US passengers who survived an Aeromexico crash in the northern Mexican state of Durango on July 31 filed lawsuits against the airline in Chicago on Monday, according to a statement by Chicago-based attorneys Corboy & Demetrio.

The Mexico City-bound Embraer 190 passenger jet smashed into scrubland near the runway shortly after take-off during what passengers have described as strong winds, hail and rain. All 103 passengers and crew survived by evacuating from the plane before it caught fire.

At least 65 passengers aboard Aeromexico Flight 2341 were US citizens, including many residents from the Chicago area.

“All of the people on this flight have the right to know exactly what caused the plane to crash. A plane just doesn’t drop from the sky because it’s raining hard,” said Corboy & Demetrio co-founder Thomas A. Demetrio. Aeromexico did not return requests for comment.

Luis Gerardo Fonseca, director of Mexico’s civil aviation agency, told Radio Formula on Monday the causes of the crash were still being investigated.

The first officer and the two flight attendants on board the plane have already given their declarations as part of the investigation, he said. Investigators were waiting to interview the captain, who is still being treated in hospital, Fonseca said.

Published in Daily Times, August 8^th 2018.