August 22, 2014 went down in the history books as the day a nation mourned the loss of 43 of it's countrymen (and women) in possibly the most tragic air disaster in aviation history. On July 17, 2014, a civilian aircraft, the flag carrier of Malaysia, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot out of the sky possibly by a surface-to-air missile by Russian backed Ukrainian rebels fighting with the Ukrainian army for independence of their territory. The location where the plane crashed was near a small village called Grabovo about 50km from the Ukraine-Russian border.
The Boeing 777 aircraft was flying at 33,000 ft and was given instructions by Ukrainian air traffic controllers to fly into the disputed region on air routes which was approved by IATA as 'safe' airspace. There were a total of 298 people onboard the doomed flight in which 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. 193 passengers were of Dutch nationalities, 43 Malaysians (including crew members), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 10 from the UK, 4 each from Belgium and Germany , 3 from the Philippines and one each from Canada and New Zealand. It is also heart-wrenching to know that out of the 298 passengers which were killed instantly when the missile hit the aircraft, 80 of them were children including 3 infants and one of them was only a 1 year old toddler who perished with his young mother and aunt.
Gruesome photos of burnt rotting bodies and mangled airplane parts strewn all over a sunflower field was paraded on the internet for weeks coupled with photos of victims in happier times invited mixed responses from netizens. Expressions ranged from shock to sadness and anger to rage.
Neither the Ukrainian Government nor the Russian backed Rebels of the Donetsk region claimed responsibility for the grossly inhumane act with both sides pointing fingers at each other backed by volumes of 'evidence' of the act displayed by both parties. The United States and affected countries like Netherlands, Australia, the UK and Malaysia strongly condemned the act and some strongly implicated Russian President Vladimir Putin in the incident.
The news of this tragedy couldn't have came at a worst time. Just 132 days earlier, Malaysian Airlines lost another Boeing 777 airplane, it's flight MH370 disappeared from radar 2 hours into a midnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Until today, 239 passengers and crew (227 passengers and 12 crew members) are still missing and an international search effort is still underway to find the missing aircraft.
What's tragic about the whole MH17 incident to me was, I lost a best friend I knew from my college days in PJ which I have known for 19 years. His name is Liew Yau Chee and he was onboard flight MH17 with his wife Lee Kiah Yeen and was returning from a business trip in Europe. The couple leaves behind 3 children. I don't really know how old are their children exactly but from the news reports they were 10, 8 and 2.
It's heart breaking to know that innocent souls, who are sole providers to young children and their elderly parents are snatched away in an instant by insane irresponsible people or groups. I too strongly condemn the parties responsible for the downing of flight MH17!
To my best friend Yau Chee and your wife, may the both of you rest-in-peace in heaven and may God protect your children so that their guardians will take good care of them and help raise them well.Till we meet again, Goodbye my friend.
