The coroner’s office in the US state of South Carolina confirms the passing of a 62-year-old former Boeing employee on Saturday.
A former Boeing employee who blew the whistle on alleged safety issues within the aircraft manufacturing company has been discovered deceased. John Barnett, aged 62, reportedly passed away on Saturday from what the coroner in South Carolina described as an apparent ‘self-inflicted’ wound, as announced on Monday.
“Charleston City Police Department is the investigating agency. No further details are available at this time,” the office of Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal told Al Jazeera in a statement.
Boeing, where Barnett worked for more than three decades until his retirement in 2017, expressed condolences at the news of his death.
“We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends,” the Seattle-based aircraft manufacturer told Al Jazeera in a statement.
Brian Knowles, a lawyer in South Carolina who represented Barnett, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The BBC, which first reported the news of Barnett’s death, said the former employee had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company in recent days.
In 2019, Barnett was quoted by the BBC alleging that Boeing had deliberately fitted planes with faulty parts and that passengers on its 787 Dreamliner could be left without oxygen in the event of a sudden decompression.
At the time of Barnett’s claims, Boeing denied them, asserting its commitment to upholding the highest safety standards. However, in 2014, an Al Jazeera investigation emerged following the temporary grounding of the Dreamliner due to two battery failures. This investigation highlighted serious concerns among workers at Boeing’s Charleston plant regarding the safety of the aircraft.
Boeing, a key player in the commercial aircraft market alongside Netherlands-based Airbus, has faced significant scrutiny regarding its safety record following two fatal crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019.
On Monday, numerous individuals sustained injuries, primarily minor, when their Boeing aircraft traveling from Australia to New Zealand encountered what airline officials termed a “strong movement” attributed to a “technical event.”
This incident adds to a string of safety-related occurrences since the start of March, including an engine fire compelling a Boeing 737 to execute an emergency landing in Houston, Texas shortly after departure.
On Saturday, US media outlets disclosed that prosecutors had initiated a criminal investigation into the mid-flight blowout of a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airlines in January.
A preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board regarding the incident indicated that four crucial bolts, intended to secure the door, were missing.
Last week, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated Boeing to devise a plan within 90 days to address deficiencies in its production and inventory procedures, following an audit that identified “non-compliance issues.”
In addition, a separate FAA report released last month highlighted significant deficiencies in Boeing’s safety culture, including concerns among employees about potential retaliation for voicing safety apprehensions.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/3/12/boeing-whistleblower-found-dead
