Three Years On, Families of MH17 Victims Still Seeking Justice

Evert van Zijtveld doesn’t want to talk about the 2014 plane crash in eastern Ukraine that took the lives of his two teenage children. He wants justice.

But three years after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the bereaved Dutch father — who also lost his in-laws in the crash — is still waiting. As are the loved ones of all 298 passengers and crew killed when the Boeing 777 was shot down during what should have been a routine trip from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

“Whoever did it should be brought to justice. That’s the only story I can share with anyone,” van Zijtveld told RFE/RL by telephone on July 13, four days before the third anniversary of the disaster.

MH17 took off from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport at 12:31 p.m. local time and headed east along its approved flight path. After flying over Germany and Poland, the plane, as planned, vectored slightly south into Ukrainian airspace.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft a little under two hours after takeoff, as it entered the airspace above territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists near the Russian frontier.

Soon afterwards, there were reports of a missing plane. These were followed by footage of a crash site and witnesses speaking of dozens of bodies on the ground.