Australia has held a memorial service to mark the anniversary of the MH17 air disaster over Ukraine, in which 298 people, including 39 Australians, died.
A plaque with victims’ names has been unveiled in the gardens of Parliament House in Canberra.
The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed on July 17 2014.
The West believes there is evidence the plane was hit by a Russian-supplied missile fired by pro-Russian rebels.
Russia denies this, blaming Ukrainian government forces for the disaster in the eastern Donetsk region.
Australian lawmakers interrupted their mid-year holidays to take part in the national memorial service in the capital.
A plaque with the names of the victims was set in soil brought back from the Ukraine by an Australian police officer.
Speaking at the memorial, held inside Parliament House’s Great Hall, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australians owed it to the dead to bring the guilty to justice.
“Their passing leaves a void that can never be filled and a pain that still throbs,” he said.
Abbott said he was humbled by the way the families and friends of the people killed on the flight had coped.
“In the worst of times you have displayed the strength of giants and the grace of angels,” he said.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten also addressed Friday’s ceremony.
Those who attended the service pinned sprigs of Australia’s national floral emblem, wattle, on a large wreath.
After the memorial, Abbott met victims’ families and friends.
Memorial ceremonies will also be held in Ukraine and the Netherlands on Friday.
In the Dutch city of Nieuwegein, the names of all the victims will be read aloud by their family members, reports the BBC.
No comments:
Post a Comment