The victims include 154 Dutch passengers, 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, 6 Britons, 4 Germans, 4 Belgians, 3 Philippines, one Canadian and 47 of yet unknown identities, stated a Xinhua report quoting the airline's European head Huib Gorte.
The Malaysia Airlines MH17 passenger plane crashed on Thursday in Ukraine near the Russian border, with all the 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board reportedly having been killed. All 15 crew members are Malaysians.
The Malaysian ambassador in the Netherlands, Fauziah Mohamad Taib, who was present at a press conference held in this regard said “My condolences are especially to the Dutch citizens and also to the other nationalities."
She further said, "The embassy will be open 24 hours, in case there are questions that you might want to ask.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday, “This might be the biggest air disaster in Dutch history,” he added. “The beautiful summer day ends in the worst possible way. It is dramatic news I can hardly believe it,” Mr. Rutte said at the Schiphol Airport Thursday night.(KH/SI)
