MH17: The Ukrainian conflict reaches Malaysia

Another tragedy. A total of 298 people are dead. My heart goes out to the families of the dead as I watch the pictures of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. I feel sad; and helpless, too.

Among those on board were 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, six UK citizens and three Filipinos. The crew members were all Malaysian.

I offer my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who died in this tragedy. I pray they find the strength to face the situation.

I read a report quoting a witness, John Wendle, a freelance reporter for ABC News, as saying: "There's blood splattered everywhere, and pieces of remains…It's a pretty grim sight. ... This is terrible."

As this is the age of instant sharing of news and photographs, I have also seen some pictures of dead people lying with broken limbs and smashed bodies near the wreckage.

From what I read online and what I heard over television, the Boeing 777-200ER was shot down en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. It was carrying 283 passengers, including three infants, and 15 crew members. The plane was due to land at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10am today.

MH17 was flying over eastern Ukraine when the tragedy occurred. The Ukrainian government is waging a war with separatist rebels who are supported by Russia. Contact with the plane was lost over or near the area where the conflict is going on.

Initial reports suggest that a single surface-to-air missile caused the crash of MH17. Who fired it? Ukrainian officials say it was the work of the rebels and they, in turn, say it was the work of the Ukrainian armed forces.

A conversation, caught by the Ukrainian authorities, between a supposed militant and a supposed Russian official was aired on television in which the duo discusses the downing of MH17. It appears that they had thought it was a Ukrainian plane.

But nothing is clear as yet. And won’t be for some time.

Since there was no distress call from the aircraft, we can assume that the passengers and crew did not know what hit them.

I can just imagine them sitting or sleeping, thinking of returning to their families or friends in Malaysia or elsewhere along the route; or coming for a holiday or stopping in transit to another destination. What hopes they must have had; what dreams; what expectations.

Now all of that has been crushed in this crash. God be with them.

If it is true that the plane was shot down, then it is nothing but murder. Some would term it an act of terrorism.

The world cannot condone such things and I am sure the Malaysian government will press ahead and do everything it can to ensure the culprits are identified and punished so as to serve as a lesson to others. We need to offer our moral support to the authorities to get to the bottom of this.

Malaysia Airlines has suffered enough, what with the disappearance of MH370 still remaining a mystery. I don’t think this is the time to find fault with it.

MH17 was a commercial airliner, not a combat jet; yet it was targeted. Nothing seems to be safe anymore when people lose their minds in conflicts and wars.

To most Malaysians, Ukraine was some distant country. When fighting started between Ukranians and pro-Russian separatists and militants, it did not matter to most of us as it was too far away.

It did not involve us; it did not touch us. But what happened to MH17 shows very clearly that every conflict, every war, no matter how far away will have some effect on everyone on the planet sooner or later.

There is no glory in war; only death and destruction.

Here is another reason to prevent conflicts from happening; here is another reason to negotiate and discuss our differences rather than resort to physical violence.

In the meantime, it would be wise to learn a lesson from this tragedy: airlines should avoid flying over conflict zones. It will probably cost more to avoid some of these conflict zones but it will be worth it. For life is precious.