MH17: Airlines settles damages with families

Malaysia Airlines has struck a deal to settle damages claims for most victims of its MH17 flight that was shot down over eastern Ukraine two years ago on Sunday, Dutch national broadcaster NOS reported.

NOS cited Veeru Mewa, a lawyer representing Dutch victims. Under the Montreal Convention, airlines must pay damages of upto about 130,000 euros ($145,000) to victims’ families, regardless of the circumstances of a crash.

MH17 was shot down over territory held by pro-Russia separatists, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Most of the passengers were Dutch.($1 = 0.9065 euros)

Meanwhile, villagers in Petropavlivka, Ukraine, held a vigil Sunday at the site in eastern Ukraine where Flight MH17 was shot down two years ago, as bereaved relatives marked the anniversary with emotional memorial services.

The Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was hit by a surface-to-air missile on July 17, 2014, during heavy fighting between Kiev’s armed forces and pro-Russian separatists, killing all 298 people on board. The Boeing 777 was on a routine flight between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur and two thirds of the passengers were Dutch. An international inqu-iry concluded last October that the plane was downed by a Russian-made BUK missile fired from a zone held by pro-Russian separatists, but stopped short of saying who was responsible.

Initial findings of a Dutch-led criminal inquiry are expected to be presented later this summer. Around 60 people gathered at the crash site in the village of Petrop-avlivka, carrying flowers and lighting candles at the square where some of the victims’ remains and belongings fell to the ground.Some youngsters from the village, still controlled by pro-Russian separatists fighting pro-Western government forces, also carried paper planes in memory of children killed in the downing of the jet.

“Some of the relatives of people who were killed phoned us and asked us to find things that were valuable for them, for example, the toys that belonged to children aboard,” village council head Natalia Voloshina. Some small pieces of wreckage, not yet handed over to Dutch investigators, were stacked outside Volosh-ina’s office to mark the anniversary