荷蘭旅客平靜應對MH17航班墜機事故
The Malaysian Airways help desk at Schiphol airport's terminal three remained emphatically closed on Friday morning, barricaded shut with additional movable walls. Only a bunch of white flowers behind the container hinted at the tragedy that has befallen Holland.
At 12:15pm on Thursday, Malaysian Airways flight MH17 departed from this same gate carrying 298 people – according to the latest information, 189 of them were Dutch. None of them are thought of have survived the incident over Ukraine.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, released a statement on Tuesday night, saying: "I am deeply shocked by the tragic news about the crash of flight MH17 of Malaysian Airlines from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian territory. A lot is still unclear about the facts, circumstances and passengers."
The Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, also expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims, saying he was "deeply shocked" by the news. "We offer our deepest sympathy to the families, friends and colleagues of the victims and to those who are still uncertain if their loved ones were on board the plane." The traditional royal photo call to mark the start of the summer holidays on Friday was cancelled.
Friday's front page of de Volkskrant newspaper showed a picture of the wreckage at the crash site, underneath the headline: "One of the worst air disasters in Dutch history."
Yet on Friday morning at 8am, passengers were queuing up to check into another Malaysian Airways flight bound for Kuala Lumpur. One couple in their 20s, who didn't want to give their names, said they felt "sad" about what had happened, and admitted they were a little bit scared about boarding their flight. But they were determined not to give up on their holiday, a trip around Indonesia and Sumatra.
Erik Elsenaar, an IT consultant waiting at Schiphol for his midday flight to Kuala Lumpur, told the Guardian he was feeling very calm: "This is something that never, never happens, and it's unlikely to happen again. It is a tragedy, but it doesn't look like the attack was either directed at Holland or Malaysia Airways. You can see here that they've already doubled the security at check-in. They will probably triple the checks for bombs. It's definitely safer to travel now than it was to travel the day before yesterday."
Elsenaar said Malaysian Airways staff hadn't mentioned the accident to him during check-in. "I expect this will add an hour extra to my flight, but that's it."
All across Amsterdam, the Dutch flag was hanging at half mast. Floor Reukers and Alex van den Akker, two students having a cigarette break by one of the canals, said they were shocked because everyone seemed to know someone who had recently been on the same flight route or was planning to fly that way soon. "My brother is flying to Kuala Lumpur in a few days," said Reukers, "and a friend of mine flew the same way last week."
Asked how they felt the Dutch government should react to the tragedy, Van den Akker said: "What happened was awful, and we are all thinking of the victims. But we are not going to call for the government to go and catch the perpetrators or go to war. We are not America."據英國《衛報》7月18日報道，星期五早上，史基浦機場3號航站樓的馬來西亞航空公司服務檯仍然緊閉，並增加了臨時隔板作爲路障。只有櫃檯後的一束白色鮮花暗示着悲劇降臨荷蘭。
星期四下午12時15分，載有298人的馬航客機MH17從登機門出發，根據最新消息，其中有189名乘客爲荷蘭人。這場發生在烏克蘭上空的災難，無一人有幸生還。
荷蘭首相馬克·呂特在星期二晚間發表了一份聲明，稱：“從阿姆斯特丹飛往吉隆坡的馬航客機MH17在途徑烏克蘭領域時墜毀，對於這個噩耗，我深感震驚。事件的真相、墜機地點和乘客情況仍有很多需要進一步瞭解的地方。
荷蘭國王威廉-亞歷山大也表示了他對遇難者親屬的哀悼，他表示自己對墜機消息深感震驚，並說：“我們對遇難者的親屬、朋友和同事，以及那些仍不確定他們的親人是否登機的人們表示最真切的慰問。”原計劃於本週五進行的標誌暑期開始的傳統儀式——皇家成員拍照儀式也已經被取消。
星期五，荷蘭人民報頭版的頭條標題爲“荷蘭史上最嚴重的空難”，標題下方刊登了一張事故現場的照片，殘骸遍野。
然而，週五早上八點，乘客們正在排隊辦理另一班前往吉隆坡的馬航航班登機手續。一對不願透露姓名的20多歲年輕夫婦稱，他們對已經發生的事故感到“傷心”，並且承認對他們即將登上的航班有點恐懼，但他們決心不放棄前往印度尼西亞和蘇門答臘的度假旅行。
IT顧問埃裏克在史基浦機場等待中午飛往吉隆坡的航班，他告訴《衛報》記者，他感到很平靜，並說：“這是以前從未發生過的事，將來也不太可能再發生。這是一場悲劇，但它看起來並不像是針對荷蘭或者馬來西亞航空公司的襲擊。你可以看到機場已經加強了登機安檢，他們還可能做三次檢查來防備炸彈。現在出行絕對比前天出行要更加安全。
埃裏克說，馬來西亞航空公司的工作人員在辦理登機手續時並未向他提及這場事故，“我預計這次航班會延誤一個小時，但僅此而已。”
整個阿姆斯特丹的荷蘭國旗都降半旗致哀。Floor Reukers和亞歷克斯·範·丹·阿卡，兩個正在一條運河邊上抽菸休息的學生說，他們非常震驚，因爲每個人似乎都認識某個人近期曾搭乘或計劃即將搭乘同一航班。Reukers說：“我哥哥過幾天要飛往吉隆坡，我的一個朋友上週也飛了這條航線。”
當被問及他們覺得荷蘭政府應該如何應對這場悲劇時，範·丹·阿卡說：“墜機事故是可怕的，我們都應該多爲遇難者考慮。但是我們不會要求政府去逮捕兇手或是走向戰爭。這裏不是美國。”
