Malaysia jet victims' bodies arrive in Netherlands

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By DOROTHEE THIESING

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (AP) — Two military transport planes carrying 40 coffins bearing victims of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 landed Wednesday in the southern city of Eindhoven, and pro-Russian rebels shot down two fighter jets in Ukraine's restive east as fighting flared in the region.

Six days after the Boeing 777 was shot down over the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, the first bodies finally arrived in the Netherlands, the country that bore the heaviest toll in the crash that killed all 298 passengers and crew.

A Dutch Hercules C-130 that Dutch government spokesman Lodewijk Hekking says is carrying 16 coffins was closely followed by an Australian C-17 Globemaster plane carrying 24 coffins.

British investigators began work on a pair of "black boxes" to retrieve data on the flight's last minutes, while Dutch officials said they have taken charge of the stalled investigation of the airline disaster and pleaded for unhindered access to the wreckage.

FULL story at link.



Ukrainian honor guards lift up a coffin, holding the body of one of the Malaysian Airlines plane passengers, to load it onto a Dutch cargo plane in Kharkiv airport, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 23, 2014. The Dutch government has declared Wednesday a day of national mourning as the country prepares for the arrival of the first bodies of victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. (AP Photo/ Sergei Chuzavkov)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140723/eu--ukraine-plane-5715dce49e.html

[cosmicone]

1. May they rest in peace. n/t

[SunSeeker]

2. ...

[Igel]

3. I'd hate to be one of their relatives.

Some bodies in the Netherlands. Probably they didn't "sort" the parts properly, so it's hard to tell how many people are represented.

Some left in Kharkiv, awaiting being flown to the Netherlands (and once IDed, repatriated if not Dutch).

And some left still in the Donets'k 'region', uncollected.


Then there was the "black box" business, with one of the DPR folk asking if they were orange. This is a strange question to ask if you didn't have a reason to suspect them of being orange. Nobody asked if they were red or blue. They are orange. However, in big words on the side, it said "flight recorder" in English, "do not open". Meaning either none of the DPR folk know enough English (or are able to Google "flight recorder" and get a translation) or they were just being intentionally stupid.

[allan01]

4. re:Malaysia jet victims' bodies arrive in Netherlands

silent keys .