In the Dutch city of Eindhoven, Ukrainians residing there, along with relatives of the deceased from flight MH17 and representatives of the municipality, honored the memory of the tragedy’s victims with sunflowers and a minute of silence.
The MH17 monument is located near the military airbase in Eindhoven. It was to this military airbase that planes carrying the remains of those who perished in the Boeing 777 crash, which was operating flight MH17 (Amsterdam – Kuala Lumpur) on July 17, 2014, arrived, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
“I clearly recall the arrival of the remains of the deceased in Eindhoven. Initially, they were transported from Donbas by train to Kharkiv, and from there, they were flown to the Netherlands. There are many photographs of those arrival ceremonies. Every time a special vehicle passed by, I thought my relatives might be inside. It was incredibly emotional. The next stage was the identification of the bodies. Most people believe that whole bodies were returned to the Netherlands, but this is not the case. In reality, they were mostly separate fragments of bodies. In our situation, we were informed that all three of our relatives had been identified, but only through specific body parts. We were advised not to open the coffins, not to see what was inside, to preserve the images of our loved ones in our memory,” Anton Kotte, a board member of the Dutch foundation “Aviation Disaster,” representing a large group of relatives of the MH17 tragedy victims, told Ukrinform. He lost his eldest son, daughter-in-law, and six-year-old grandson in the tragedy. He came to commemorate them with his younger son and his wife.
Kotte also noted that the story of the MH17 monument in Eindhoven is no less striking and tragic.
“298 stones symbolize the victims of this tragedy. Above, there is a sphere, which is empty, signifying the loss. Around it is a bracelet that says we will never forget them. It was created by a 98-year-old artist, and as soon as he finished his work, he passed away without seeing its official unveiling,” Kotte shared.
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The monument bears the inscription “I will never forget you,” and this inscription is symbolic not only for those who lost loved ones on flight MH17 but also for Ukrainians, as people continue to perish daily due to Russian aggression.
Ukrainians also came to the monument with flowers and candles. These are residents of Eindhoven. Among them is Serhiy Bachynsky, who has been living in the Netherlands with his family for many years. He knew Anton Kotte’s son well; they worked together at the same company.
“My colleague, whom I knew well, was flying on that plane for a vacation. Unfortunately, I never saw him again. That is why today I came to the memorial with my wife and two children to honor the memory of all the victims of this tragedy. I still work at the same company, and today I told my colleagues that after work, I will definitely come here to remember both our Dutch colleague and the Ukrainians who died because of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Now we have a common enemy, and he must answer for all the crimes committed against people. A country can be rebuilt, but human lives cannot be brought back. Unfortunately,” Bachynsky told Ukrinform.
As Ukrinform reported, in the Netherlands, Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Kostin and Australian Ambassador Greg French, along with relatives of the MH17 crash victims, honored the memory of the deceased.