Passenger on airliner that crashed in Mexico files lawsuit

CHICAGO – A suburban Chicago man who was one of more than 100 survivors of a jet crash in Mexico this week is suing the airline.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Chicago, 43-year-old Nestor Martinez of Northlake alleges that the Mexico-based Aeromexico was negligent in improperly taking off Tuesday during a severe storm.

The jet had just taken off in Durango in northern Mexico when it smashed belly-down into a field near the runway. All 103 people aboard escaped. Rescuers took 49 people, most of whom suffered minor injuries, to area hospitals. Martinez’s attorney, Robert Bingle, says Martinez has headaches after striking his head, suffered muscle damage to his neck and shoulders, and has a laceration on his right leg.

Bingle says it’s too early to say what caused the crash.