One year on, families of MH17 crash grieve and wait for answers over Ukraine disaster
Many questions remain over the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane, adding to the pain of those who lost loved ones
On their son Bryce’s birthday this year, Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand and her husband Rob went to a Dutch air base, watched pall bearers solemnly unload seven coffins from a military cargo plane and wondered if they contained parts of the remains of Bryce or his girlfriend Daisy Oehlers.
For many families of the 298 people killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down one year ago today over eastern Ukraine, uncertainty and agonising waiting is still woven into the fabric of life.
“Your world stops with a bang,” Silene said at her home in Rotterdam, where flowers and mementos to Bryce and Daisy still dominate the living room. The couple’s bedroom is still the same disorderly mess it was the day they left for a vacation to Bali. “Everything around you continues. You try to participate, but it’s just hard.”
As if waiting for remains of loved ones were not bad enough, families also still have not received conclusive answers to many questions about the crash: Who brought down the plane? Will the perpetrators ever face justice? Why was the Boeing 777 heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur even flying over a war zone?
International investigators say it will be October before they publish the official cause of the crash. A Dutch-led criminal investigation into the downing won’t be done until the end of the year – adding to family frustrations.