Nearly half of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passengers are Dutch citizens, according to a Malaysia Airlines statement Thursday night.
Malaysia Airlines Europe Director, Huib Gorter, commenting from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport said that 283 passengers and 15 crew members were in the plane which crashed Thursday afternoon in Ukraine.
According to initial research, 154 of the passengers and crew were Dutch citizens, 27 Australian, 23 Malaysian, 11 Indonesian, six British, four German, four Belgian, three from the Philippines, and one Canadian, Gorter said, adding that the nationality of the others remains still to be confirmed.
Groter said that all crew members were Malaysian Nationals and the names of crew and passengers will become public after their families are informed.
Malaysian Airline Europe Director said that the company had sent a plane to Ukraine for research purposes, but there is no proof uncovered yet that the plane was shot down.
He said that the relatives of the victims will be sent to Ukraine as requested.
The company lost communication with the plane around 14:15, Groter said.
LONDON
