Tragedies happen every day around the world, whether by accident or other misfortune. But the Boeing plane crashes that have taken the lives of hundreds of unsuspecting travellers were not acts of God, but rather human-made.

Last Sunday, a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 157 people on board. It’s the second time the model has crashed in similar fashion in the last five months, after a Max 8 crashed into the Java Sea in October last year, killing 189 people. Both planes were only a few months old.

By Wednesday, at least forty-one countries grounded the planes due to safety concerns, with the United States and Canada practically the sole outliers. Justin Trudeau’s government finally relented on Wednesday morning, while the Trump administration continued to defy growing calls within the US, including from Republicans and labor unions, to do the same, reportedly after Trump took a call from Boeing’s chief executive assuring him the planes were safe. Increasingly isolated, the president eventually ordered the planes grounded later that day.