Mick Ryan, pictured here at Kutupalong camp in a video shared by the WFP in April 2018.World Food Programme, Facebook

The family of an Irish humanitarian killed in the Ethiopian Airlines disaster has been awarded $29 million (€25 million) by a US jury, bringing a long-running legal battle over his death to a close.

Micheál Ryan, known as Mick, and originally from Lahinch, Co Clare, was among 157 people who died when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa in March 2019.

Mr. Ryan, who was 39, was working for the United Nations at the time and had spent years helping vulnerable communities in some of the world’s most challenging regions.

He had worked across Africa and Asia, including supporting the response to the Ebola outbreak in Liberia and assisting Rohingya refugees. His career also took him to countries including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Ethiopia.

He had been living in Cork with his wife, Naoise, and their two children.

The civil action against Boeing was brought in the US by Mrs. Ryan, who chose to pursue the case before a jury rather than settle directly with the aircraft manufacturer.

Her legal team said she had remained determined to seek accountability through the courts.

A Chicago jury has now awarded her $29 million in damages, equivalent to around €25 million.

The crash involved a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Boeing has previously acknowledged that failures involving its aircraft and anti-stall software played a role in the two fatal crashes involving the model in 2018 and 2019.

The two disasters, involving Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air, claimed a combined 346 lives.

Many families affected by the crashes had already reached settlements with Boeing, but Mrs. Ryan continued with her individual civil case.

The Ethiopian Airlines flight Mick Ryan had been travelling on was heading for Nairobi in Kenya when it crashed near Bishoftu, approximately 50km southeast of Addis Ababa.

All 157 people aboard were killed.

The airline said at the time that the pilot, who had an otherwise strong flying record, had reported difficulties and had been authorised to return towards the airport.

The aircraft was relatively new, having entered service only months earlier.

The latest award follows a separate Chicago case in which a jury awarded $49.5 million to the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old American passenger who also died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

For the Ryan family, the latest verdict marks the conclusion of a years-long effort to seek accountability for the loss of a husband, father and humanitarian whose career had taken him around the world helping others.

*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.