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Amy Chew

It’s been 10 years since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by pro-Russian separatists over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board.
But a decade later, the families and victims are still grappling with unimaginable grief – slowly trying to rebuild their shattered lives in the harrowing aftermath.
Disturbing images and disinformation surrounding the tragedy continue to resurface online, making it painfully difficult for the victims’ next of kin to find closure despite the passage of time.
“There are a lot of sick people out there,” said Piet Ploeg, chairman of the MH17 Disaster Foundation, who lost his own brother, sister-in-law, and their young son in the disaster.
“Terrible pictures of the victims at the crash site are posted on social media nearly every day. Some of the body parts … you can recognise who they are. This is very cruel to the next of kin.”

Ploeg told This Week in Asia that his Netherlands-based foundation, which aims to safeguard those left behind, support them in their grief and commemorate the victims, had warned surviving family members not to look at social media.
“It is a heavy thing to see … we are trying to protect them,” he said. “I have asked people to stop making such postings but they don’t listen.”
Even as the victims’ loved ones struggle to heal, the full circumstances behind the downing of the ill-fated flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur remain shrouded in mystery a decade later. The 298 victims hailed from 17 different countries, with Dutch nationals making up the majority at 198 killed. There were also 43 Malaysians, 38 Australians and 10 Britons on board.


Ploeg alleges that Russia has been heavily involved in spreading misinformation, at various times blaming Ukraine or even the CIA for shooting down the plane.
“MH17 next of kin are an unwitting victim of geopolitics,” Ploeg said.
He condemned Moscow’s callous disregard for the suffering of the victims’ loved ones.
MH17 next of kin are an unwitting victim of geopolitics
MH17 Disaster Foundation Chairman Piet Ploeg
“They are indifferent to the fate and the pain of the next of kin. Human lives and dignity are not important for Russia,” Ploeg said.
“When you lose your children, you want to know why … it is necessary for the grieving process. Russia has this answer, but they don’t give it.”
The three men convicted in absentia for their involvement in the shooting down of MH17 were not the actual individuals who fired the missile, nor were they the ones who gave the order to bring down the plane, Ploeg claimed.
In November 2022, a Dutch court did find two Russians – Igor Girkin, a former colonel of Russia’s Federal Security Service, and Sergey Dubinskiy, who worked for Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency – as well as Ukrainian separatist Leonid Kharchenko, guilty of mass murder for their roles in the MH17 tragedy.

The three were sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay the victims’ families more than €16 million (US$17.4 million). However, since none was present in court to receive their sentences, it is unlikely any of them will actually serve time for the MH17.
While the families and loved ones continue to grapple with the unresolved nature of this devastating loss, a commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the downing of MH17 will be held on Wednesday at the National Monument MH17 at Park Vijfhuizen near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
‘The world’s forgotten about us’
MH17 pilot Captain Wan Amran bin Wan Hussin left behind two young sons when he died in the tragedy.
His eldest, 21-year-old Wan Uzair, is set to join Malaysia Airlines’ engineering team next month. The younger son, 19-year-old Wan Yusuf, dreams of following in his father’s footsteps as a pilot.
But this aspiration remains out of reach for the family.
“It is my son’s dream to become a pilot like his father, but the fees are very expensive,” said Wan Amran’s widow, Mariam Yusof. She and her sons receive little outside assistance – and none of the compensation Mariam believes Russia should provide to MH17 victims’ families.
It has been 10 years but it seems like it was just yesterday
Mariam Yusof, widow of a MH17 pilot
“We don’t get help from anyone. We are self-funded. We are living off some of our savings,” she said. What money the family does receive from the state, under Malaysia’s social security system, is just enough to cover the monthly food bill.
This financial strain means Mariam and her boys cannot afford to visit the MH17 memorial in Amsterdam, where a tree has been planted for every life lost.
“We don’t have the funds to do that … we really want to see the tree planted for my husband,” she said. “It has been 10 years but it seems like it was just yesterday.”
“The world has forgotten about us,” Mariam said, but she, her family and all those left behind can never forget. “I hope there will be justice for us all.”

Slowly letting go
Whenever Enny Nuraheni misses her sister, she visits her Facebook page and memories of the 57-year-old single mother come flooding back. Ninik Yuriani, who died aboard doomed flight MH17, was returning home to Indonesia to celebrate Eid with family when the plane was shot down.
Enny, a former chief photographer for Reuters Jakarta who now acts as a mother figure for Ninik’s daughter, cherishes the photos and videos of her kind-hearted sibling. “My sister may not have been rich, but she had such a rich heart,” she recalled.
Ninik worked as a cashier at a pastry shop in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, often covering the extra cost for hungry students who couldn’t afford more food – or offering to let them pay later.

Though Enny is learning to accept that her sister is gone, the pain never fully subsides.
“I miss her very much,” she told This Week in Asia. “But my pain has started to ease following the birth of my grandchildren.”
Life renews itself and the world’s attention may have moved on, but for those whose loved ones were lost, the wounds of MH17 leave an enduring ache.


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‘The world has forgotten us’: MH17 disaster haunts victims’ families, 10 years on

Workers transport a piece of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 wreckage at the site the crash in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, in 2014. Photo: Reuters

MH17 Disaster Foundation Chairman Piet Ploeg. Photo: Amy Chew

Debris of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, is seen on July 17, 2014. Photo: EPA-EFE

The National Monument MH17 in Park Vijfhuizen near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Photo: EPA-EFE

Indonesian Enny Nuraheni has learned to accept the death of her sister in tragedy, but the pain never fully subsides. Photo: Reuters

Russia-North Korea military pact prompts Seoul to threaten arms to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un shake hands during a signing ceremony in Pyongyang on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Kim and Putin parade around in an open-top car during a welcoming ceremony on Wednesday at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. Photo by KCNA via KNS / AFP

A Hanwha K9 Howitzer seen at the company’s manufacturing facility in Changwon. Hanwha Aerospace Co. is South Korea’s leading arms manufacturer. Photo: Bloomberg

As MH17’s anniversary nears, families of victims in 2014 tragedy blast Russia’s Ukraine war

A section of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 wreckage in which 298 people died. Photo: Reuters

Enny Nuraheni, former Reuters photographer, lost her sister after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by Russians over Ukraine eight years ago. Photo: Handout

A candlelight vigil for victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over territory held by pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Photo: Reuters

MH17 verdict: Three convicted, one acquitted over Russian missile that brought Malaysia plane down in Ukraine in 2014

People who lost relatives in the downing of MH17, hug after the court’s verdict. Photo: AP

The court under the direction of President Steenhuis, second left, stands before the verdict in the trial of four men prosecuted for their involvement in the M17 downing case. Photo: AFP

Ria van der Steen, who lost her father and stepmother in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, pictured after the court’s verdict. Photo: AP

‘Hunt them down’: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 families hope for justice as Dutch court to deliver verdict

Reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, put on display during a press conference in the Netherlands. Photo: AP/File

Dutch prosecutors have asked for life sentences against four suspects, being tried in absentia, for their involvement in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Photo: EPA-EFE

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17: how much power does ICAO have to punish Russia for downing plane?

The wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 at the crash site in Hrabove, eastern Ukraine. File photo: Reuters


Relatives of victims of the MH17 crash at a 2014 memorial ceremony in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photo: AFP

This Week in Asia

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Unresolved pain lingers for the loved ones of MH17 victims, their cries for justice echoing through a world that has seemingly moved on


Unresolved pain lingers for the loved ones of MH17 victims, their cries for justice echoing in a ‘world that has forgotten about us’.
