Canberra: In a quirk of fate, elderly Australian couple Irene and George Burrows lost their family members in both the Malaysian airline tragedies. Burrows who lost their son Rodney and his wife Mary when MH370 disappeared, has now lost their step granddaughter in the crash of MH17.
“It has been a very trying day,” said Greg Burrows, Rodney’s brother, reported Daily Star Sunday. “This has just blown everyone clean out of the water.”
The Burrows have previously spoken of the difficulty in not knowing what happened to MH370. Rodney and Mary Burrows were travelling on the jet with close friends Cathy and Bob Lawton.
Their son Jayden revealed in March he and his family were struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.
“We dearly love and will miss our Mum and Dad,” he said.
“The love and compassion that they shared and their priority of putting their family first will help us get through this together.
“We are heartbroken this stage of their life has been cut so short.”
Twenty-seven Australians were onboard MH17 when it was shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile while flying over eastern Ukraine.
“It did not crash, it was downed. And it was downed over territory controlled by Russian-backed rebels.”
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