The shocking fate of the 298 people on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 18 has shattered families from across the world.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Of the 37 Australian citizens and residents on board, eight were from Western Australia and a number of others were bound for Perth as their final destination at the time they boarded the flight.
As world leaders push for an independent investigation, management of the crash scene and the repatriation of bodies, families and friends are grieving and communities are trying to come to grips with the reality of what has happened.
West Australians lost in MH17:
Nick Norris was a managing director of a Perth-based change management consultancy company and well known by many who worked in the education sector.
He was holidaying in Europe with his family.
Mr Norris’ three grandchildren Otis, Evie and Mo Maslin, aged eight, 10 and 12 respectively were also on the plane, heading home, ahead of their parents.
Perth school administrator Edel Mahady was a married mother-of-two.
She was on her way back to Perth after spending a fortnight visiting her elderly mother in Dublin.
Mrs Mahady who was originally from Ireland was the bursar at Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School in Kelmscott for 14 years and also worked as an instructor at Fitness First in Cannington and Myaree.
Albany couple Arjen and Yvonne Ryder had been on holidays in the Netherlands.
Mr Ryder, 55, was a scientist with the WA Department of Agriculture and Food and an avid cyclist and Mrs Ryder was a teacher at John Calvin School in Albany.
Fatima Dyczynski was about to join her parents in Perth, where the aerospace engineer was to embark on the next chapter of her life, after graduating from university in Amsterdam.
The 24-year-old was a former John XXIII College student who was on her way back to WA to start an internship at IBM Australia on Monday.
Richard Mayne, a 21-year-old maths and finance undergraduate at Leeds University, and Ben Pocock, a 20-year-old business student at Loughborough University were on their way to Perth to study at the University of Western Australia for a year.
Mr Mayne was from Leicester and Mr Pocock- Keynsham from Bristol.
Dafne Nieveen, originally from the Netherlands moved to Australia with her boyfriend in 2007.
The 37-year-old was a Dutch language teacher in Perth.
De Gelderlander reports that she had been in the Netherlands for a conference.
