UKRAINE-CRISIS/MH17 DUTCH CEREMONY Netherlands remembers MH17 disaster one year on

Record ID: 146746

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/MH17 DUTCH CEREMONY Netherlands remembers MH17 disaster one year on
  • Date: 17th July 2015
  • Summary: NIEUWEGEIN, THE NETHERLANDS (JULY 17, 2015) (REUTERS) MEMBER OF THE MH17 FOUNDATION AND FATHER WHO LOST BOTH CHILDREN IN THE CRASH, EVERT VAN ZIJTVELD, WALKING ZIJTVELD TALKING HANDS HOLDING PAPER (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch), MEMBER OF MH17 FOUNDATION WHO LOST BOTH OF HIS CHILDREN IN THE CRASH, EVERT VAN ZIJTVELD, SAYING: "It was beautiful, with lots of emotions and dignity. We ha
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA23TVXJ6RUWR1UOMOODSFN5IIR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: One by one, the names of the 298 passengers and crew who died aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 were read aloud at a ceremony on Friday (July 17), a year after the passenger jet was shot out of the sky over rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
    Commemorations in the Netherlands and Ukraine marked a painful milestone for the families, some of whom have had to wait until now for scattered remains to be recovered.
    Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte led a ceremony in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands to remember the victims, two thirds of whom were Dutch.
    "Because the 298 unique people we remember today will always be connected with your lives and those of thousands of others. Lives that go on, but with 'a gaping hole', as one of the next of kin described it recently. Today is a difficult day - a day of reliving events. It is inevitable that everything will come flooding back. How and where you heard the news: a moment frozen in time. The painful realisation that, from an unknown location thousands of kilometres away, death had entered your home," Rutte said.
    "The first, difficult year has passed. And however you experience this moment, one thing is certain: the victims of MH17, your loved ones, will never be forgotten. I hope that this remembrance will be a source of hope and strength for you," he added.
    The tragedy marked a turning point in the conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels, in which more than 6,500 people have now been killed.
    Dutch investigators leading an international investigation into the crash say their principal scenario is that it was brought down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile.
    Moscow says the passenger jet was hit by a rocket fired from a Ukrainian fighter jet. Kiev denies that.
    During the ceremony, widow of First Officer Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi, who was killed on the flight, paid tribute to other families of the victims.
    "I cannot even begin to imagine the sufferings and the sorrows that each (and) every one carry. Though we share similar experiences of losing loved ones, our journey and our grief, can never be equated. And it's a whole different journey in its entirety. And for that my heart bleeds yet again, and for that my heart goes out to each and every one of you," said Asmaa Aljuned.
    "And before I end my speech, I am compelled to carry out the final task of my husband that he never gets to fulfill," she added before reciting what would have been the last announcement on MH17.
    After the ceremony, Evert Van Zijtveld, a member of MH17 Foundation who lost both of his children and their maternal grandparents commended the ceremony.
    "It was beautiful, with lots of emotions and dignity. We have seen and felt the emotions in the hall and we cried," said Van Zijtveld.
    A report on the cause of the crash from the Dutch Safety Board, a preliminary copy of which has been circulated to half a dozen government with nationals onboard, is due in October.
    The deaths of nearly 200 Dutch nationals on the plane have struck deep in the psyche of the nation of 17 million people. Opinion polls suggest a majority of the population holds Russia responsible.
    Diplomatic relations with Moscow have deteriorated, and the government is rethinking its reliance on Russian energy.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register