Dutch couple involved in MH17 investigation share experience, move to Finnish Lapland to start anew
The 17th of July 2014 permanently marked the lives of Dutch couple, Bea and Bram van Utrecht. The pair were involved in the Dutch Safety Board’s investigation of flight MH17. The Malaysian Airlines plane, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down by a Russian-made missile in an area of Eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels, killing nearly 300 people. Bram van Utrecht was one of the technical investigators.
After the missile destroyed the Malaysian plane in Eastern Ukraine, Bea and Bram van Utrecht were living in Turkey, running a tourism business. They were both invited to join the Dutch Safety Board’s accident investigation due to their specialist skills.
The Dutch Safety Board’s reconstruction team began assembling the parts of the plane that were found. It was a huge puzzle: pieces were missing, but some could be easily connected by color or number. A lot of hard work lay ahead for the large investigation team: the large passenger plane had shattered into pieces.
The missile attack on the Malaysian plane was far from a conventional accident investigation case for the Dutch couple. Bram van Utrecht is now speaking out for the first time about what it was like to conduct an accident investigation, the results of which the whole world was waiting for.
The plane parts were assembled at the Gilze-Rijen air base in the Netherlands, in a large hangar area with tight security measures. Bram van Utrecht described the technical investigation of flight MH17 as very intense. He worked every day from morning to night for four months, except weekends.
The investigation deeply affected both Bea and Bram due to the high number of Dutch victims. All 298 people aboard flight MH17 died when the passenger plane exploded in Eastern Ukrainian airspace. Of those killed, 196 were Dutch.
This tragic event led the couple to reflect on the meaning of life, and they decided to follow their dreams. They relocated from Turkey to Äkäslompolo, Finland in December 2017. They now run a tourism business called B&B Adventures, offering programme services and small-scale bed and breakfast accommodation.
The couple believe they will spend the rest of their lives in the Finnish Lapland. Despite the significant role MH17 investigation played in their lives, it doesn’t greatly affect their current life in Äkäslompolo.