MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – About a hundred AIDS clinicians, researchers and activists heading to the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne were among the passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 that crashed Thursday in Ukraine’s east, Reuters reported Friday.
The conference was due to start on July 20.
The International AIDS Society (IAS) reported earlier in the day that its former President Joep Lange is among the victims. Glenn Thomas, a World Health Organization’s media relations coordinator, is also among the dead.
The IAS has expressed its deepest condolences over the tragedy.
“The International AIDS Society today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that 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,” a statement on the organization’s website said.
283 passengers and 15 crew members died as a Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed Thursday near the town of Torez in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region. The cause of the accident has not been determined so far.
