MH17: Faith after disaster

Heart and Soul

In the summer of 2014, a passenger jet was shot out of the sky over a rural area of Ukraine. Images of suitcases and children’s toys strewn around the burning wreckage were beamed and streamed around the world. All 298 people on board were killed. Two thirds of the victims were Dutch and this air disaster is often referred to as the Netherlands 9/11 - likening the impact of the downing of flight MH17 to that of the terror attacks in New York, in terms of the way these unfathomable events ignited a collective grief and national mourning.

Four men are on trial for their alleged role in the mass murder. In the most recent hearings, relatives were given an opportunity to share their stories, the ‘victim impact’ testimonies, as they were called in court, revealed how this single event had affected so many lives in so many ways and gave a glimpse into how faith has been tested, lost and rediscovered.

Anna Holligan has been reporting on this story for the BBC since the day flight MH17 was brought down. She has got to know many of the surviving relatives, some of whom are still struggling to comprehend what happened to their loved ones. To what extent did faith has play a role in their ability to go on after they lost everything? And she speaks to experts about how the public mourning, and global attention has shaped the way in which families sought solace in their faith and found hope in the darkness.

(Photo: A religious cross marks the entrance of the village Grabovo, on the site of the flight MH17 disaster, in Grabovo, Ukraine. Credit: Pierre Crom/Getty Images)