Three people who survived a terrorist attack in Mozambique and four family members of the victims have taken legal action against the French oil company TotalEnergies.
The people who survived and their family members, who are from Britain and South Africa, are blaming Total for not taking proper care of its subcontractors and causing their deaths.
Many people, including workers hired by TotalEnergies, were killed in March 2021 when a group of Islamist militants attacked the city of Palma in Mozambique.
The attack happened close to a place where a gas project is being done. TotalEnergies owns part of this project.
The government of Mozambique said that 30 people died in the attack, but a journalist named Alex Perry found that 1,402 people died or went missing, including 55 workers from the company Total.
The lawsuit says that TotalEnergies didn’t tell the subcontractors working there about the danger of possible attacks.
The lawsuit also claims that TotalEnergies did not have enough safety measures in place and did not allow a helicopter to refuel and rescue its workers.
The people who made the complaint say that the militants killed some workers who were hired by TotalEnergies while they were running away from the hotel.
“It is being said that TotalEnergies did not directly cause the deaths of the victims, but they did not behave responsibly as expected of a professional in fulfilling their duties,” stated their lawyers.
According to Reuters, TotalEnergies has denied the survivors and victims’ families’ claims, calling them “incorrect”. The company also mentioned that it removed all its employees from the site.