THE HAGUE: Families of the victims of flight MH17 on Wednesday marked five years since the crash, with calls for justice for those killed when the Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine.
The remembrance services in the Netherlands and Kuala Lumpur came less than a month after international investigators charged three Russians and a Ukrainian with the murder of the 298 people who died.
Mourners gathering at the Dutch national monument to the disaster were surrounded by 298 trees, one was planted for each victim, and sunflowers grown from seeds from the Ukrainian fields where the wreckage fell. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the "grief is felt all over the world today" as he addressed relatives at the memorial in Vijfhuizen, next to Amsterdam´s Schiphol Airport where the ill-fated Boeing 777 to Malaysia took off on July 17, 2014.
"Justice for the dead remains our common goal," Rutte said in a speech. "Fortunately, last month we were able to take a new and important step forward. We´re not there yet, but step by step we´re getting closer to the truth." The service also featured music, singing and a recital by young people. The flags of the victims´ countries hung at half-mast. One hundred and ninety-six of the victims were Dutch and 36 were Australian.