It has been almost three months since Konjit Shafi lost her younger brother, 31-year-old Sintayehu Shafi, on the fateful crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8 that plunged into a farm field a few minutes after takeoff from Bole International Airport in Addis Abeba, killing all passengers and crew.

The tragic loss of her brother has devastated her and her family and has left them in a state of agony. Sintayehu was the youngest child and a pillar of the family - the man of the house who took care of everything, according to Konjit.

“He was a lovable, kind, funny and sociable guy that everyone liked,” she remembered.

The family lives on the outskirts of the city, a few kilometres away from Bole International Airport. Planes departing the airport fly over their house with the attending loud noises as a constant reminder of their tragic loss.

In the living room, Sintayehu’s awards are displayed along with some photographs of him.

“He was a perfectionist who truly cared about his job,” Konjit said.

After graduating from Assela TVET College in 2007 and specialising in auto mechanics, Sintayehu joined Motor & Engineering Company (MOENCo) as a service and repair electrician trainee. It only took him a short time to be promoted to an assistant training manager and senior training instructor. He also earned his first degree in mechanical engineering.

His work ethic earned him a spot in a week-long training offered by Toyota Motor Corporation in Nairobi, Kenya. Sintayehu was on his way to this training in Kenya when he boarded Ethiopian Flight 302 on March 10, 2019, along with 154 other people who hailed from 35 different countries, including the pilot, the co-pilot and eight flight crew members.

The plane crashed just six minutes after takeoff in a desolate field in Tulu Fara Wereda, a village located approximately 40Km from Modjo town just south of the capital.

A funeral mass was held for the Ethiopian victims on March 17, 2019, and family members were given a kilogram of scorched earth retrieved from the crash site.

Last week Sinteyehu’s family commemorated the traditional 80-day remembrance, and they are still left with a lot of questions that have found no answer. After the customary 40-day memorial observance, the family’s grief transformed to anger and regret.

“It was not an act of God,” said Sinateyehu’s mother, Mintwab Mitku, speaking in great anguish. “I lost my son to a human error.”

What caused the crash and who is responsible for it are the major questions the family wished they had answers to. Conclusive answers are hard to come by, at least immediately.

However, a preliminary investigative report of the accident has established that the pilots followed proper procedures, the aircraft was issued an airworthiness directive and the takeoff was normal. There is a broader consensus by those involved in the investigation that a faulty sensor built in the automated system of the 737 Max was activated erroneously and caused the accident.

“Uncommanded nose-diving was encountered before the crash,” reads the investigation report prepared by Ethiopian Airlines.

The same problem was reported as the cause of the Lion Air plane crash that claimed the lives of 189 people when another 737 Max 8 fell into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia last October.

Even though the Ethiopian report did not mention the Manoeuvring Characteristic Augmentation System (MCAS), an automated safety system designed to prevent the plane from stalling or losing lift, industry insiders blame the system for being the cause of both crashes.

The Cheif Executive Officer of Boeing, Dennis Muilenburg, has admitted recently that a piece of “vital information that was not communicated to all Boeing clients, pilots and regulators” could have prevented the crashes that involved both Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air.

For Konjit, the events and reporting that unfolded after the crash were too much to keep track of. She took an extended leave from her job to recover from her grief and spent a long time researching the crash and reading about the latest developments, especially the legal aspects.

In the early days of the accident, the family was indirectly contacted by foreign lawyers whom the family dismissed. No less than five international law firms approached them, she recalled.

Several international law firms that believe the American aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, should be held accountable have also approached other victims’ families to represent them in suing Boeing in the United States.

A team of three American law firms that consist of Kabateck LLP, Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge and SNS Plc has been to Addis Abeba to approach families and recruit clients. One of the co-lead counsels on the Kabateck Boeing lawsuit team, Sanjiv N. Singh, was here in Ethiopia seeking to talk to families. Kabateck, which represents 13 families from the Lion Air crash in their claim against Boeing, held discussions with Sintayehu’s family.

Dissuading the families of the victims from signing settlement agreements was the primary reason Kabateck was in Addis Abeba, according to Sanjiv.

In Lion Air’s case, Sanjiv says, his firm found out that insurance firms that insured that airline had approached and pressured families of victims to sign written releases to receive insurance payments that were required by law.