FBI: Boeing Passengers Might Be Crime Victims

(Patrick T. Fallon /AFP via Getty Images)

The FBI has informed passengers onboard a Boeing plane when it suffered a midair door blowout that they each may be a “victim of a crime,” CNN reported.

In January, an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a door blew off midflight. Footage of the incident, captured by passengers from inside the plane, quickly went viral.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary global grounding of all Boeing planes of that model, and a subsequent investigation determined that four bolts, meant to hold the door plug in place, at some point went missing.

“I’m contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime,” read the letter, which was sent by the FBI field office in Seattle and shared with CNN by the attorney representing more than two dozen passengers in a lawsuit against the airline.

The letter also states that “this case is currently under investigation by the FBI.”

The FBI neither would confirm nor deny whether the agency is probing Boeing, which is currently under investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

“My clients and I welcome the DOJ investigation,” attorney Mark Lindquist told CNN. “We want accountability. We want answers. We want safer Boeing planes. And a DOJ investigation helps advance our goals.”

Attorney Robert Clifford, who represents many of the family members of the victims of a 2019 crash involving a Boeing plane, told CNN that he’s “certain everyone on the plane will be getting this letter,” and added that “the families of the Ethiopian Air victims should have also been considered crime victims.”