Aids conference vows to honour colleagues killed in MH17 downing
Melbourne Aids 2014 Conference organisers lament loss of six colleagues travelling on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
Delegates at a global Aids conference vowed on Saturday to renew efforts to end the deadly disease in honour of the commitment of colleagues killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 came down over Ukraine.
The Boeing 777 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was apparently brought down by a surface-to-air missile on Thursday in an area of eastern Ukraine where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting government forces.
At least six people on the flight, including Joep Lange, a leading light in the field of Aids research, were heading to the AIDS 2014 Conference in Melbourne, according to the International AIDS Society (IAS) which organises the event.
“Our colleagues were travelling because of their dedication to bringing an end to Aids.”
The number was much lower than earlier feared, with some initial reports indicating as many as 100 delegates had lost their lives on the flight.
Lange’s partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren, who worked for the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, was also killed along with two members of the AIDS Action Europe organisation, a campaigner for STOP AIDS NOW! and Glenn Thomas, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation.
“This is a moment of deep sadness for the world,” IAS President Francoise Barre-Sinoussi told reporters outside the convention centre where the conference is due to open on Sunday.
“The extent of our loss is hard to comprehend and express. Our colleagues were travelling because of their dedication to bringing an end to Aids. We will honour their commitment and keep them in our hearts as we begin our programme on Sunday.”
Barre-Sinoussi, who won a Nobel Prize for her part in identifying the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), said there would be a moment of silence during the opening ceremony to remember those who had died.
