A distraught, grieving mother summed up a swelling mood of despair and anguish in the Netherlands on Sunday at faltering efforts to repatriate the bodies of loved ones killed in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce and his girlfriend Daisy Oehlers were killed when the plane was shot down Thursday over Ukraine, said she was appalled their bodies and those of other victims had been left lying for days. "I am not a politician," she told The Associated Press. "But I know for sure that Mr. Putin can do something."
Earlier, at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, she made a simple, but heart-rending appeal to the Russian President: "Mr. Putin, send my children home," she told Sky TV.
International monitors say armed rebels have limited their access to the crash site and Ukrainian officials said armed rebels took 192 bodies away from their workers by force Sunday."No words can describe it," Fredriksz-Hoogzand told AP. "Bodies are just lying there for three days in the hot sun. There are people who have this on their conscience. There are families who can never hold the body of a child or a mother."
She said she sent Bryce and Daisy on vacation to Bali to get over the grief of Daisy's mother dying two and a half months ago. "It's a tragedy on top of a tragedy," she said.
IN-DEPTH
- Stories of Crash Victims Coming to Light
- Russian News Media Back Putin, Offer Different View of Jet's Downing
- Ukrainians Pay Their Respects at Malaysia Jet Crash Site
- The Associated Press