Obama pays tribute to AIDS experts killed in plane crash

President Obama has paid tribute to the AIDS experts who died on the plane that crashed in the Ukraine earlier this week.

The Malaysia Airlines flight travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was carrying 298 passengers when it crashed in Eastern Ukraine on Thursday (July 17) after allegedly being shot down, killing everyone on board.

Among those travelling on the flight were around 100 AIDS experts and activists, who were travelling to Melbourne, Australia, for a major international AIDS conference.

While appearing at a news conference this week to discuss the tragic events, Obama said:

“In this world today, we shouldn’t forget that in the midst of conflict and killing, there are people like these, people who are focused on what can be built, rather than what can be destroyed; people who are focused on how they can help people that they’ve never met; people who define themselves not by what makes them different from other people, but by the humanity that we hold in common.

“On board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17, there were apparently nearly 100 researchers and advocates traveling to an international conference in Australia dedicated to combatting AIDS-HIV.These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence.”

The names of those who died on the flight have yet to be confirmed, but it is known that former International AIDS Society president Joep Lange was on board – click here to find out more.