Relatives of Dutch victims killed in
the Malaysia Airlines crash have struggled to come to grips with the
horrific loss of family and friends as they demand a thorough
investigation.
The country woke up in shock yesterday and flags were flying at half-mast as they digested the loss of 189 Dutch passengers as the toll grew throughout the day.
“I expect there to be a thorough investigation by the authorities into what has happened,” Sander Essers, who lost several relatives in the crash, said in The Hague.
Mr Essers lost his brother Peter, 66, Peter’s wife Jolette Nuesink, 60, and their two children, Emma, 20, and Valentijn, 17.
Their story is like those of many other Dutch citizens on the plane in the country’s second-worst air disaster.
The Essers family were on holiday travelling to Borneo to explore the jungle for three weeks with a group of friends when they boarded the ill-fated flight MH17.
“I spoke to my brother 20 minutes before he boarded the flight,” Mr Essers said. “But I can’t tell you what he told me” he said, as tears welled up in his eyes.
An Amsterdam man said he hadn’t been able to sleep since the disaster and had gone to Schiphol Airport to pay his respects to a Balinese friend who had died.
Artur Laumann, 36, arrived with a bunch of tropical flowers — “for tulips aren’t appropriate’’ — to ensure one of his friends would be remembered. He placed the flowers with a picture of his colleague Wayan Sujana and a message of condolence written in Indonesian, and then acknowledged the Australian reaction to the disaster had been more in keeping with the strength of the atrocity.
“Your Prime Minister Tony Abbott has spoken in very strong language but here, we are in shock,’’ Mr Laumann said. “I think we should be as angry as Australia and I think that very soon we will see our politicians speak out loudly too.
“I haven’t slept since hearing about the plane going down and it is only now that I am starting to tremble a bit and realise what has happened.’’
Mr Sujan was just 24 and had been visiting The Netherlands for several weeks with his boss, a hotel manager. Both were on board the ill-fated MH17.
Mr Laumann said he wanted to highlight the plight of the Indonesian victims, whom he felt may have been overlooked in the catastrophic loss of Dutch nationals.
‘’Wayan was from a little village called Periteran at the norther top of Bali where the ferry comes in from Java and his family were only told a few hours ago that he was on board,’’ said Mr Laumann, who promised his Balinese friend Susili that he would represent Mr Sujan and try and find out as many details as possible.
‘’They are from a poor country and don’t have access to information. It took many hours for the family to discover that Wayan had died. I just decided I should try and help and create a small memorial for him.’’
But another Dutchman, Henri Karsten, who was checking in for a flight to New York, said: “The Dutch people are still in a state of shock.
Read more: Dutch struggle with loss of 189 | The Australian
The country woke up in shock yesterday and flags were flying at half-mast as they digested the loss of 189 Dutch passengers as the toll grew throughout the day.
“I expect there to be a thorough investigation by the authorities into what has happened,” Sander Essers, who lost several relatives in the crash, said in The Hague.
Mr Essers lost his brother Peter, 66, Peter’s wife Jolette Nuesink, 60, and their two children, Emma, 20, and Valentijn, 17.
Their story is like those of many other Dutch citizens on the plane in the country’s second-worst air disaster.
The Essers family were on holiday travelling to Borneo to explore the jungle for three weeks with a group of friends when they boarded the ill-fated flight MH17.
“I spoke to my brother 20 minutes before he boarded the flight,” Mr Essers said. “But I can’t tell you what he told me” he said, as tears welled up in his eyes.
An Amsterdam man said he hadn’t been able to sleep since the disaster and had gone to Schiphol Airport to pay his respects to a Balinese friend who had died.
Artur Laumann, 36, arrived with a bunch of tropical flowers — “for tulips aren’t appropriate’’ — to ensure one of his friends would be remembered. He placed the flowers with a picture of his colleague Wayan Sujana and a message of condolence written in Indonesian, and then acknowledged the Australian reaction to the disaster had been more in keeping with the strength of the atrocity.
“Your Prime Minister Tony Abbott has spoken in very strong language but here, we are in shock,’’ Mr Laumann said. “I think we should be as angry as Australia and I think that very soon we will see our politicians speak out loudly too.
“I haven’t slept since hearing about the plane going down and it is only now that I am starting to tremble a bit and realise what has happened.’’
Mr Sujan was just 24 and had been visiting The Netherlands for several weeks with his boss, a hotel manager. Both were on board the ill-fated MH17.
Mr Laumann said he wanted to highlight the plight of the Indonesian victims, whom he felt may have been overlooked in the catastrophic loss of Dutch nationals.
‘’Wayan was from a little village called Periteran at the norther top of Bali where the ferry comes in from Java and his family were only told a few hours ago that he was on board,’’ said Mr Laumann, who promised his Balinese friend Susili that he would represent Mr Sujan and try and find out as many details as possible.
‘’They are from a poor country and don’t have access to information. It took many hours for the family to discover that Wayan had died. I just decided I should try and help and create a small memorial for him.’’
But another Dutchman, Henri Karsten, who was checking in for a flight to New York, said: “The Dutch people are still in a state of shock.
Read more: Dutch struggle with loss of 189 | The Australian
No comments:
Post a Comment