Lawsuit alleges Boeing at fault for MH370 crash

March 8 (UPI) -- A class action lawsuit against Boeing alleges a series of electrical and other malfunctions caused the crash of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of South Carolina on behalf of the families of 44 people who were on the plane alleges there are several possible reasons the plane crashed.

The lawsuit accuses Boeing of negligence in its design, manufacturing and sale of the Boeing 777 that crashed three years ago.

"The crash and loss of the passengers was a reasonable and foreseeable consequence of Boeing's defective design, manufacture and/or assembly of the aircraft for which Boeing is strictly liable," the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit alleges there could have been a fire due to "defective and inadequately protected and installed" electrical wiring, that the plane inadvertently depressurized and that the cockpit's communications equipment were "defective and subject to failure," among other problems.

"The defects caused and/or allowed a massive and cascading sequence of electrical failures on board the lost plane which disabled vital systems ... making it impossible for the crew to navigate the plane or for the plane to communicate with the ground stations leaving the aircraft to fly without the ability to communicate or control the aircraft until the plane ran out of fuel," the lawsuit alleges.

MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia en route to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board. Malaysian authorities concluded the flight had ended in the Indian Ocean, but no confirmed MH370 debris was found until last year when a right wing flaperon was discovered on Reunion Island, east of Madagascar.

Boeing is also accused of equipping the plane with technology for locating the plane that was known to be defective, which the lawsuit alleges is the main reason the plane remains lost.

"When Boeing placed the aircraft into the stream of commerce, the aircraft was defective in its manufacture, design and/or assembly," the lawsuit alleges. "The defects in the manufacture, assembly and/or design of the aircraft caused the crash and disappearance of Flight MH370 and crash."