Melbourne-bound AIDS 2014 delegates among those on MH17 flight

Melbourne-bound AIDS 2014 delegates among those on MH17 flight

REPORTS have emerged that among the passengers aboard the downed Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight in Ukraine were delegates, researchers and advocates bound for the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne.

Flight MH17 was shot down in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine this morning, claiming the lives of 298 passengers and crew. Authorities have said 27 Australians were on board.

Since the news broke, there has been a flurry of conflicting reports  mostly on social media  that up to 108 of those on board the flight were bound for Melbourne, via Kuala Lumpur, for the 20th International AIDS Conference which begins on Sunday.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed that a number of people on board the flight were travelling to Melbourne for the conference, but an exact figure has not yet been confirmed at the time of writing.

A statement from the International AIDS Society (IAS), which runs the International AIDS Conferences, has also been issued.

“The International AIDS Society today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that a number of colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20th International AIDS Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today,” the statement read.

“At this incredibly sad and sensitive time the IAS  stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy.”

Among the victims reportedly on board the MH17 flight were former IAS president Joep Lange and World Health Organization staffer Glenn Thomas.

“The IAS is hearing unconfirmed reports that some of our friends and colleagues were on board the flight and if that is the case this is a truly sad day,” the IAS statement said.

“The IAS has also heard reports that among the passengers was a former IAS president Joep Lange and if that is the case then the HIV/AIDS movement has truly lost a giant.”

UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibé also took to Twitter to express his condolences, and a one minute memorial silence was held at the International Indigenous Pre-Conference on HIV and AIDS in Sydney this morning.

 

 

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4 responses to “Melbourne-bound AIDS 2014 delegates among those on MH17 flight”

  1. So the Liberal Party is planning an anti-gay family values bigot conference – what a coincidence. Malaysia has some of the harshest anti-gays laws on the planet. HIV researchers killed on the same flight, 9/11, London, Madrid, missing Malaysia flight are all lies, cover-ups and secrets – as well as “secret government documents and data” being suppressed by lock and key in a vault and the Abbott Government making new laws reporting this secret information illegal being introduced as a bill to the parliament and well as information being exposed to the public, etc. I bet money that this has links to the other missing Malaysian flight too!

    Tony Abbott and the Liberal party are to blame for this mess. They hate us so much that they would be very capable of planning the next holocaust against gay people!

    Sounds like it is all a coincidence hey!

    Vote 1 Australian Sex Party (ASP)!

    • You are a fucking disgusting human scum

      AIDS 2014 conference is an acadrmic conference held primarily for scientists and researchers. The conference is for researchers share ideas and attempt to develop breakthroughs in finding cure, and has nothing to do with politics or your petty little LBGT issues.

      I sincerely hope you contract AIDS from your next gay sex and die from it

  2. My thoughts are with the families and friends of victims of Plutin’s terrorist Russian government. I would also call upon the Liberal Party not to attend the Family Focus conference in Melbourne, where fundamentalist who support the Russian GLBTI hate laws will be attending. The Liberal Party should not be using public office to support a government who has waged war against parts of humanity.