The flight with the MH17 left just after noon from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, for many of the passengers the start of what should be a great holiday. The flight is flawless, until it only goes wrong three hours after departure. The plane flies just above the Ukrainian Donetsk when it is shot by rockets. Pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army have been supplying an armed battle on the ground.
Land bewildered
Only a few hours later do the first reports reach the Netherlands: there is still talk of an airplane that would have crashed. During the evening the size of the disaster becomes clear: nobody survived the crash. The country is stunned.
The same evening it becomes clear that there were many Dutch people on board the device. The passports of some of the passengers found at the disaster site can be seen live on television at international media. It soon becomes clear that there are also fifteen Hilversummers on board and a mother with her three young children from Naarden.