By Prince Golez
Manila Reporter
MANILA – President Benigno Aquino III on Friday expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of the 298 passengers aboard a Malaysian Airlines flight that crashed in eastern Ukraine late Thursday night (local time).
The Boeing 777, with the call sign MH17, was flying from Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The aircraft did not make a distress call, a Malaysia Airlines statement said. Aviation authorities have yet to identify the cause of the plane crash.
This is the second disaster suffered by Malaysia Airlines this year. Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Malaysia to China in March. It has still not been found.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that three Filipinos were on board MH17.
A report said the flight also carried at least 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians, 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew), 12 Indonesians, nine Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, and a Canadian. The nationalities of 41 others are not yet confirmed.
“The Government is one with the international community in calling for the thorough and swift inquiry on this incident,” said Presidential Communications Operations Office Sec. Herminio Coloma Jr. in a statement.
He said the Department of Foreign Affairs is already coordinating with Ukranian and Malaysian authorities for the identities of the Filipinos aboard the ill-fated flight.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is coordinating with the Malaysian foreign ministry to get more information about the three Filipinos aboard Flight MH17.
Vice Consul Johann Veronica Andal said Friday the embassy has sent personnel to Kuala Lumpur International Airport to get more information.
“We’re still coordinating with our Malaysian counterparts,” Andal said in an interview on GMA News TV’s “News to Go.”
“We’re waiting for information from the Malaysian Foreign Ministry,” he added.
Andal said it has not yet been confirmed if the Filipinos on board MH17 were tourists of workers.
For now, she said Malaysia Airlines’ standard operating procedure is to “call the next of kin.”
As of Friday morning, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) posted on Twitter a message calling for prayers for MH17 crash victims.
“#PrayForMH17,” the CAAP tweet read.
On the other hand, the CAAP will also meet with representatives of flag carrier Philippine Airlines to discuss the routes of PAL flights in Europe. (With reports from GMA News/PN)
