Re: Malaysian passenger plane crashes on Ukraine-Russia border
Government of Netherlands
MH17 incident
Timmermans calls for unhindered and safe access to crash site
News item | 18-07-2014
?This is a black day for the Netherlands, and for Malaysia. We mourn all those who were on board flight MH17, whatever their nationality,? said foreign minister Frans Timmermans in response to the Ukraine air disaster.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is immediately dispatching a consular support team to Kyiv to assist the local Dutch embassy. The Ministry has set up a crisis team in The Hague. Relatives can contact the Ministry by calling +31 (0)70 348 7770.
Mr Timmermans called his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin on Thursday evening to discuss the disaster. He emphasised the need for an independent investigation into today?s events. Mr Klimkin pledged his full cooperation and said he would welcome Dutch participation.
The Minister assured Ukraine the Netherlands would provide every possible support in the relief efforts and further action following this terrible disaster, including deployment of the Dutch National Forensic Investigation Team (LFTO) to help identify the victims.
The ministers agreed that responders need to be given unhindered and safe access to the area and that the crash site should remain undisturbed. They called on all those involved to provide full and immediate cooperation in the matter.
http://www.government.nl/issues/mh1...unhindered-and-safe-access-to-crash-site.html
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Statement by minister Opstelten, concerning the disaster involving flight MH17
News item | 18-07-2014
On 18 July, the Minister of Security and Justice, Ivo Opstelten, issued a third statement concerning the disaster involving flight MH17 (Malaysia Airlines), which crashed on 17 July in Ukraine.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This morning Malaysia Airlines announced that at least 173 Dutch nationals were known to have died in the disaster involving flight MH17. That number is hard to take in. The terrible reality of this disaster is starting to dawn on us. An investigation will have to determine the exact cause of the crash, though it seems extremely probable from the information currently at our disposal that MH17 was shot down.
It is crucial to find out exactly what happened. A great many Dutch nationals were killed, so it is important that the Netherlands, as part of the international investigation team, carry out investigations at the site of the crash at the earliest opportunity. The investigation will start as soon as possible, in consultation with the Ukrainian authorities.
The Dutch Safety Board will be involved in the investigation and will send a team of investigators to Kyiv as soon as possible. The focus is on the following elements: the cause of the accident, the passenger list and the plane's flight path. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs will provide you with more detailed information this afternoon at a press conference.
At present, we are concentrating on helping families and friends in concrete ways. They are being offered assistance and information.
Everyone in the Netherlands is united in their sympathy for those who have lost loved ones. A book of condolence can be signed, either online at rijksoverheid.nl or here at my Ministry. I shall be signing it myself as soon as I have finished speaking to you.
A list of those who have lost friends or family is now being drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Forensic Investigation Team. Victim Support Netherlands will set up a closed website to provide information for the friends and relatives of victims. The police will appoint family support officers to help the next of kin cope with their loss.
For more information, relatives and friends can contact the team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at +31 (0)70 348 7770.
I am fully aware that it can sometimes take a long time before friends and family are told exactly what has happened. We are working as hard as we can to get information to them as quickly as possible. Many Dutch mayors find themselves in a very difficult position at present. Stories are circulating in many municipalities regarding the names of victims. However,
until official identifications have been made, the municipal authorities cannot formally confirm these names: as you will appreciate, no one wants to hear via the media that his or her loved one has been killed.
The National Forensic Investigation Team will travel to the disaster site as soon as possible. They are currently preparing for departure.
After identification, victims will be repatriated as soon as possible.
On Monday, there will be a closed information meeting for the victims' next of kin.
At present this is all the information I can give you. As soon as we know anything more, we will get back to you with all possible speed.
http://www.government.nl/issues/mh1...rning-the-disaster-involving-flight-mh17.html
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Rutte: ?We want to get to the bottom of this tragedy?
News item | 18-07-2014
At 16:15 on Friday afternoon, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans issued a statement on the air disaster in Ukraine involving flight MH17. According to the prime minister, the government's priority is to
'achieve clarity by means of an independent investigation'. The foreign minister announced that he would be travelling to Ukraine this evening.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte:
Ladies and gentlemen,
The dramatic events that took place yesterday in Ukraine are now, a day later, assuming an increasingly tragic scale. Yesterday I spoke of 154 Dutch nationals who were known to have died. That number has now risen to at least 189. Today, we are starting to hear the stories of individual travellers: young people, entire families and a large group of scientists who boarded the flight yesterday with no inkling of the terrible fate that was in store for them. And more and more of my fellow countrymen are being shocked to learn, from friends or acquaintances, of the deaths of people they knew. That shows, once again, how closely we are all connected in this small country of ours.
The Netherlands was shocked by this tragic event, and our thoughts go out to the families and loved ones of the victims. Summer festivities are being toned down, and a constant stream of messages of sympathy are being posted on social media.
It would appear that flight MH17 was shot down, but the exact nature of the disaster has not yet been established. The government's main priority, therefore, is to achieve clarity by means of an independent investigation.
A team of investigators from the Dutch Safety Board will travel to the site of the crash. It is crucial that they are given unobstructed access to the disaster site and to the data contained in the flight recorders.
I have shared this appeal with many international colleagues. For instance with the Malaysian Prime Minister and the Ukrainian president yesterday, and, today, with Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande and President Obama. I also communicated it in a phone call to President Putin just now.
He, too, assured me that Russia is pressing for a full, international, independent investigation.
Let me make one thing clear.
We want to get to the bottom of this tragedy. And if it becomes clear that the aircraft was attacked, I will personally make every effort to ensure that the perpetrators are found and punished. We will not rest until this is done. We owe that to the innocent victims and their next of kin.
A book of condolence has been opened here at the Ministry, and before doing anything else, I intend to sign it.
http://www.government.nl/issues/mh1...ant-to-get-to-the-bottom-of-this-tragedy.html
