The operation “Bring them home” has begun: After the launch of the first flight MH17 dead have been implicated in its Dutch home. Throughout the country, church bells ring.

Two planes land. The engines shut down, the propellers turn off. For a moment there is silence. A trumpet sounds. Hearse approaching, it’s a whole column. In the military area of the airport Eindhoven in the Netherlands, the first deaths have arrived. A machine of the Australian, a second of the Dutch Air Force landed shortly before 16 clock. At this moment the Netherlands paused. The church bells rang in the country, the public life rested for a minute.

298 people have been killed on Thursday when a plane from Malaysia Airlines was shot down over Ukraine. MH17 flight was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. On board were families, vacationers, business travelers, scientists from ten countries. Most of those 193 people, came from the Netherlands.

For the country and its only 17 million inhabitants it is one of the worst disasters in history. For days is mourned; cautious, because the Dutch are more rational, level-headed, sometimes aloof. The government has therefore been reluctant to declare a national day of mourning. It is not what suits this country.

he shooting down of flight MH17 but burrows deeply in the Netherlands. On Wednesday, now the country is at a standstill. For 52 years, it no longer has the given. 1962 was the last time a day of national mourning. At that time, Queen Wilhelmina had died, which had governed the Netherlands in times of two world wars and was a resistance figure against the Nazis.

On Wednesday is again such a day of pause. He is also a turning point. Five days was mourned, now being tackled. The Netherlands lead an investigation at the crash site, and they have taken the lead in identifying the victim. Ten countries are involved, governments, and an airline; Military who transported the bodies and forensics, which they investigate. It is an international effort that begins today. A cruel logistics.

The Eindhoven Airport becomes the hub: The body and the remains of almost 300 people are flown here in the next few days. The first machines have now landed. They had a total of 40 coffins on board.

At the weekend, the bodies were loaded into refrigerated train wagons and stores, a place near the crash site, been driven to the west. On Tuesday morning around 10:30 clock the train arrived in Kharkiv. The eastern Ukrainian separatists who control the area around the crash site, say, 280 corpses lie in the car. The investigators, who were waiting in Kharkiv, on the other hand only counted 200 bodies.

The Netherlands Is In Mourning:Also Australian specialists are in use

In several periods, the dead are now flown to Eindhoven, a regional airport, not far from the German border. The Dutch Ministry of Defence coordinates the flights. There, it is called an air bridge that is to be formed between Eindhoven and Kharkiv. C-130 Hercules transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force flying back and forth. Also, a machine of the Australian Army is ready to Boeing C-17 Globemaster in Eindhoven since Tuesday morning. Australia has suffered the most deaths to the Netherlands and Malaysia. 27 Australians came the crash of flight MH17 killed.

From Eindhoven airport the corpses and mortal remains in a barracks be brought in Hilversum. There, waiting for forensic specialists and the Ministry of Defence, which identify the bodies. Australia also sent specialists and embassy staff.
“Once the identification is completed, first the survivors informed,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday. This could happen very quickly, “but it can take months.”

Especially for the Netherlands is the return of an important step to come to rest. In the past few days was from grief anger; especially about how long the transfer took and was how to deal with the dead bodies and the personal belongings of the victims. On the Internet, users have uploaded profile pictures black to demonstrate for the return of the dead. There was a petition. # Bring Them Home expressed the despair of the country. Now, Operation “Bring them home” started.

The Netherlands Memorial for MH17 Victims Video

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