Somber Dutch Salute Return of First MH17 Victims

40 bodies arrive in the Netherlands
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2014 10:35 AM CDT
Somber Dutch Salute Return of First MH17 Victims
People lay flowers in front of a plane prior a ceremony to mark the return of the first bodies, of passengers and crew killed in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, from Ukraine at Eindhoven military air base, Wednesday, July 23, 2014.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

The planes carrying the bodies of some of the first victims recovered from the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site have landed in the Netherlands, Sky News reports. The two military aircraft, one Dutch and one Australian, contain a total of 40 bodies in wooden coffins; they took off from Ukraine's Kharkiv Airport and landed at Eindhoven Airport, where the Dutch prime minister, members of the Dutch royal family, and hundreds of relatives of the victims were waiting, the BBC reports. Bells were tolled for five minutes before military personnel carried the coffins off the planes and put them in hearses; they'll be taken to a military barracks for identification. Click for the poignant stories of the final hours of some of MH17's victims. (More Malaysia Airlines stories.)

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