Anger is growing in the Netherlands with the bodies yet to be returned from the eastern Ukraine
Media publish bereaved father's letter as train laden with victims' bodies heads to Kharkiv en route to the Netherlands. |
A bereaved Dutch father has written an open letter to whoever shot down flight MH17, "thanking" them for killing his 17-year-old daughter Elsemiek, "my dear and only child". The letter comes as anger grows in the Netherlands over the fact that the dead have yet to be returned from the eastern Ukraine, with many deploring the chaotic handling of the bodies and the crash site. Thursday's downing of the Malaysia Airline passenger jet left 298 people, including 193 Dutch, dead. The crash has been widely blamed on a missile fired by pro-Kremlin separatists allegedly supplied by Russia, but Russia blames the Ukraine government. "Thank you very much Mr [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, separatist leaders or the Ukrainian government, for murdering my dear and only child," Hans de Borst, the bereaved father, said in the letter published by Dutch media on Monday. "Suddenly she's gone. Shot out of the sky in a foreign war-torn country." Elsemiek was going to finish school next year with her best friends Julia and Marine [who were not on the flight], and she was doing well. Borst's letter was published as Ukraine announced late on Monday that all the bodies taken from the crash site would be taken to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, before being transported to the Netherlands. "All the bodies have been loaded onto a special train in refrigerated wagons and we expect after 19.00pm (1700 GMT) "All the bodies will be taken to the Netherlands." Dutch investigators had earlier on Monday inspected the bodies recovered from the downed airliner which had been loaded on a train under rebel control, an AFP reporter said. "I think the storage of the bodies is [of] good quality," Peter Van Vliet, the forensic expert leading the Dutch team, said after examining the corpses. In the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, prime minister, had said the priority was to move the bodies to Ukraine-controlled territory. "The first aim is to get the trains out and let them go to Ukrainian-controlled territory, preferably Kharkiv," Rutte said, referring to a major city about 300km away which has remained firmly in Ukraine's hands. "The separatists have said that international observers must be present when the train leaves ... the Dutch experts are international observers ... they can fulfil that role," Rutte said (AL JAZEERA) |