Edmonton's Dutch, Ukrainians mourn victims of Flight MH17

A small group of Dutch and Ukrainian Canadians gathered on Friday night to mourn the victims that were killed when a Malaysian passenger plane was shot down over the skies in Ukraine.

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The group held a candlelight service at the Dutch Canadian Centre in Edmonton to mournthe tragic event that left 298 people dead.

There were 189 Dutch passengers on theKualaLumpur-boundflight that departedfrom Amsterdam.One Canadian was also killed in the crash.

Hans Buikema, a member of Edmonton's Dutch Canadian Club said the event is too terrible to express in words.

Its very important to show our feelings with our friends and family back in Holland and Im sure the people in Ukraine, he said.

Nataliya Kostyuk who still has family and friends living in Ukraine is brought to tears when she speaks about the crash.

This is the reality for Ukrainians, she said. To say goodbye to our best peopleits happening every day.

With this plane crash, the tragedy just grows so much bigger because people of different nationalities were on board and almost 100 children who are not part of this conflict and are not supposed to be involved are affected. Its extremely sad.

Kostyuk says that Ukraine is in a state of undeclared war and she just wants it to end.

The tragedy it was unparalleled in scale, she said. No one in Ukraine deserves whats happening right now, but the people on that plane, they dont have anything to do with the conflict there. They were just innocent victims.

Buikema said its important for people from all countries impacted by the crash to support each other.

All over the world, we are people. We live together and we should get together in harmony, he said. This is a nice opportunity for both sides to show that we care about each other.