MH17 victims honoured at solemn ceremony as first bodies arrive in Netherlands...

The Netherlands declared its first national day of mourning in more than half a century Wednesday as a sign of respect for MH17 victims whose bodies were left to rot for days amid the wreckage.

For one grieving mother, the arrival of the bodies marked a new stage of mourning and brought to an end the pain of seeing television images of victims lying in the undulating fields or in body bags being loaded into a train.

“Waiting while the bodies were in the field and in the train was a nightmare,” said Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son, Bryce, and his girlfriend Daisy Oehlers died in the crash.

Restricted access to the crash site and reports that militants mistreated the corpses fueled outrage in the days after the July 17 crash that killed all 298 people aboard — particularly in countries that suffered the most losses.
International anger also swelled over reports pro-Russian separatists had stolen passports and other personal items from the wreckage.

The bodies were left to rot in temperatures of 29.4C for days after the plane crash last Thursday. The corpses were moved to a refrigerated train Sunday, but early Monday morning it suffered a power outage. Under a surprise deal announced by Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, the train finally set off on a 12-hour trip to Kharkiv Monday evening.

After days of mistreatment the first bodies and remains of those who perished on Flight MH17 arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday.

A Dutch Hercules C-130 that Dutch government spokesman Lodewijk Hekking said was carrying 16 coffins touched down first, closely followed by an Australian C-17 Globemaster plane carrying 24 coffins. Church bells rang out as the planes taxied to a standstill in Eindhoven.

The coffins were moved from the planes to waiting hearses one by one as spectators watched in silence.