American victim was headed for family vacation
The U.S. State Department confirmed at least one American fatality on Friday: Quinn Lucas Schansman, 19, who had been traveling to meet up with his family for vacation in Indonesia when the plane was shot down. Born in New York while his father was working for the Dutch government, Schansman moved with his family back to the Netherlands when he was only a few years old and lived the rest of his life in Europe, said Katinka Wallace, a relative. He had dual Dutch and American citizenship. Schansman’s grandfather was born in Indonesia, and the family had planned a three-week vacation there, Wallace said. His parents were already in Indonesia, waiting for him to arrive. Schansman’s Facebook profile says he was studying in Amsterdam at the International Business School.
New York Times
The human cost of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 hit home around the world Friday, devastating scores of families and small communities spanning half of the planet.
Relatives and colleagues paid emotional tribute to the dead. Students gathered to pray for lost friends, and even Tour de France cyclists paused for a moment’s silence in memory of the 298 people killed in Ukraine.
“Today, the stories are emerging about individual travelers,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. “Youngsters, a big group of scientists, sometimes whole families who yesterday afternoon got on board and unknowingly headed toward their hopeless fate.”
Because the plane took off from Amsterdam, most were Dutch headed for Kuala Lumpur. But others were from elsewhere in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. One was a dual U.S.-Dutch citizen.
They left behind relatives searching for answers and clinging to memories.
“It’s a black day,” said Ron Peter Pabellon, a Filipino cake maker in Dubai who fears he lost an aunt, uncle and two cousins, one of them his best friend. “I want to see (them) with my own eyes because I don’t want to accept. I don’t want to believe.”
‘Ripped our guts again’
The crash heaped tragedy upon tragedy for one Australian family that also had relatives aboard the Malaysian Airlines plane that vanished in March.
Kaylene Mann’s brother Rod Burrows and sister-in-law Mary Burrows were on Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean but has never been found. On Friday, Mann learned that her stepdaughter, Maree Rizk, was killed on Flight 17.
“It’s just brought everyone, everything back,” said Greg Burrows, Mann’s brother. “It’s just … ripped our guts again.”
Rizk’s husband, Albert, was also among the victims, leaving a hole in a local football club where they volunteered and their son, James, played.
Phil Lithgow said Albert Rizk was a member of the club’s committee. Maree was a volunteer in the canteen.
“They were very lovely people. You wouldn’t hear a bad word about them — very generous with their time in the community, very community-minded,” Sunbury Football Club president Phil Lithgow said.
'A man who knew no barriers'
Several passengers on Flight 17 were traveling to Melbourne, Australia, for a major international AIDS conference.
The United Nations organization UNAIDS said the crash claimed “some of the finest academics, health care workers and activists” working on the disease.
The Academic Medical Center hospital in Amsterdam said two of its staff members, including renowned AIDS researcher Joep Lange, a former president of the International AIDS Society, and his colleague Jacqueline van Tongeren were believed to have perished.
“Joep was a man who knew no barriers,” the hospital said. “He was a great inspiration for everybody who wanted to do something about the AIDS tragedy in Africa and Asia.”
In Geneva, the World Health Organization said spokesman Glenn Thomas, a 49-year-old Briton, was killed on his way to the AIDS conference.
Thomas “will be remembered for his ready laugh and his passion for public health,” said Gregory Hartl, another spokesman for the U.N. health agency.
Dutch AIDS activist Pim de Kuijer, once a political intern of former Dutch lawmaker Lousewies van der Laan, was also killed.
On Twitter, Van der Laan called him “a brilliant, inspiring and caring activist fighting for equality and helping AIDS victims around the world.”
‘We will never forget you’
Karlijn Keijzer, a 25-year-old doctoral student in the chemistry department at Indiana University, had just prepared a computer simulation on a drug used to treat cancer and Alzheimer’s disease before catching the Malaysia Airlines flight for a short summer vacation with her boyfriend, Laurens van der Graaff.
Described as a brilliant student by faculty and staff at Indiana University, Keijzer also was a formidable athlete.
She rowed on the varsity-eight boat and helped the university’s women’s rowing team earn a 14-5 record during the 2011 season.
Mu-Hyun Baik, an associate professor of chemistry and informatics at the university, said Keijzer “was a kind, happy young woman full of ideas about the future. She inspired us all with her optimism about how science will make Earth a better place.”
‘A great mentor’
Students at the Kincoppal-Rose Bay School of the Sacred Heart in Sydney gathered Friday for a special prayer meeting to remember Sister Philomene Tiernan, a 77-year-old teacher who was killed.
“For me, she’s been a great mentor, and she’s also a personal friend,” Principal Hilary Johnston-Croke said, her voice breaking.
A high school in the central Dutch town of Woerden that lost three pupils from three different families threw open its doors for friends, relatives and teachers to console one another, Principal Alice Timmermans said.
Another Australian school, Toorak College in Melbourne, was also affected. Teacher Frankie Davison and her husband, Liam, were on the stricken flight.
‘Beyond devastated’
Among the nine British citizens who were killed was 20-year-old Richard Mayne, who had just finished his second year at Leeds University in England. He was studying math and finance.
Mayne was a rugby player who had raised money for disadvantaged children by climbing to a Mount Everest base camp in Nepal in March, according to his Facebook profile.
He was on his way to spend a year studying abroad at the University of Western Australia at Perth. He chose the flight because he was excited to spend the layover in Amsterdam, said his father, Simon.
“When I first saw it on the news, my heart dropped. I just thought, oh God, oh God — I couldn’t believe it,” the father said. “We were hoping and praying he had fallen asleep at Amsterdam and missed his flight.”
He said he can’t even bear to look at a photo of his son.
“We are beyond devastated,” he said.
‘Just can’t comprehend it’
Britons John Alder and Liam Sweeney, both big fans of the soccer team Newcastle United, were flying to New Zealand to cheer on the Magpies in a preseason tour, the Newcastle Chronicle reported.
Alder, nicknamed “the Undertaker” by fellow Newcastle United fans, was known for his habit of wearing a black suit to games.
Since 1973 he had missed only one match, even traveling to the United States, Thailand and New Zealand for away games, according to the Chronicle.
“John was a permanent fixture at Newcastle United,” Fanzine writer Steve Wraith said. “It’s so sad that he’s lost his life in such tragic circumstances. I just can’t comprehend it. He has died doing something he loved — traveling to watch his team Newcastle United. My thoughts are with his family.”
About the Author
