Malaysia crash comes with its lighter side

What you need to know:

  • One of the passengers on board posted a premonition Facebook post that showed the plane before it flew. He uploaded the picture of the plane and captioned the image: “If it disappears, this is what it looks like.”
  • Since the crash took place, the international community has been trading blame and throwing fingers at each other concerning the origin of the deadly missile.
  • Russia has denied any involvement in the crash, so are the rebels in Ukraine.

Families from around the world continue to mourn the deaths of their loved ones who had boarded the Malaysian airlines flight MH17 that crashed after being hit by a surface-to-air missile in eastern Ukraine.

The crash which led to the deaths of 298 people took place in a territory controlled by the pro-Russian rebels.

Blame game in the international community continue as Washington puts heaps of blame on the Russian government which has refused to take responsibility sparking an international debate.

And as nations continue playing the blame game, families of those on board have asked to be given the bodies of their members.

One of the passengers on board posted a premonition Facebook post that showed the plane before it flew. He uploaded the picture of the plane and captioned the image: “If it disappears, this is what it looks like.”

He was referring to the disappearance of another Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in March which was carrying 239 passengers and crew.

The whereabouts of the plane remain a mystery to date.

And one Sanjid Sandu, a Malaysia Airlines flight attendant swapped flights at the last moment on Thursday and boarded MH17 in Amsterdam so he could get home early. In an interview with CNN, his parents said four months earlier his wife, Beegeok Tan, also a flight attendant with the airline, switched flights in Kuala Lumpur and escaped going down with MH370 which later disappeared to date.

“Fate has played a very unfair hand against us,” his father said. Mr Sandu leaves behind a 10-year-old son, who says he now has to be the man of the house. His wife left a message on Facebook: “We know you are gone and won’t be coming back. I wish you a safe journey and I know you will go to a much better place.”

But in this case, the plane did not disappear but crashed in Eastern Ukraine after being hit by a surface-to-air missile.

The magnitude of the crash hit deeper as the world was left mourning at the loss of 108 Aids researchers who were flying to a conference in Australia.

The team comprised staff from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and medical researchers, health workers and activists who were due to attend the twentieth International Aids Conference in Melbourne.

BLAME GAME

Since the crash took place, the international community has been trading blame and throwing fingers at each other concerning the origin of the deadly missile.

Russia has denied any involvement in the crash, so are the rebels in Ukraine.

“Yesterday, a chorus of Kremlin-friendly media declared that the truth about what happened to the Malaysian jet would likely never be found out, accusing the West of heaping the blame on Russia.
“Western Press already knows who is to blame for the loss of the airliner — Russia obviously,” said popular tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. Mass-circulation Moskovsky Komsomolets accused the West of pinning the blame on Russia before the results of a yet-to-begin investigation are out.

“Those guilty have been designated,” it said, recalling that the United States had falsely accused dictator Saddam Hussein of having weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“It is unclear whether it is possible to tell the truth from the lies in this wonderful new information world,” Moskovsky Komsomolets added. Government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta pointed the finger squarely at Kiev authorities, accusing them of refusing to cooperate with Moscow.

“Kiev is not in a rush to answer ‘10 questions’ about the Boeing,” it said, referring to a litany of queries released by the Russian defence ministry over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said “all the right things” in a call with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who on Monday demanded he back his words with action over Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.