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Perth widow Danica Weeks has told the families of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 she knows the pain they are going through, just months removed from her own Malaysia Airlines tragedy.
The Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has been shot down in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, claiming the lives of 295 passengers and crew.
Authorities have confirmed that 27 Australians were aboard the flight, although a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said they had not yet confirmed if any WA residents were aboard the flight.
Deputy Prime Minister Julie Bishop said MH17 was believed to be connecting to Perth, although Perth Airport is yet to confirm this.
According to a post on the website Perth Airport Spotter's Blog, the plane had regularly been flown to Perth.
“Malaysia Airlines B777-2H6 (ER) 9M-MRD was a regular visit to Perth, Western Australia operating the airline's MH125/124, MH126/127 services between Kuala Lumpur & Perth up until 14th February 2012, when on this day the aircraft operated the airlines last B777 service into Perth before changing types to the Airbus A333.”
Ms Weeks’ husband Paul was on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 en route to Mongolia for a new job in the mining industry when the plane went missing on March 8.
She told Radio 6PR she was horrified to learn about MH17, adding she hoped Malaysia Airlines staff had learnt from the mistakes they made in communicating with the families of victims aboard the missing flight.
LISTEN: Hear the full interview with Danica Weeks on 6PR below.
“I know the pain it causes and it’s just horrible, my heart goes out to the families," she said.
“Malaysia Airlines...[communication] has been far and few between, they haven’t been very good at communicating at all.
“Only yesterday I was on the phone to them having a few words about it because I was just so frustrated by the lack of communication.
“They were shocking and I’ve told them they need to be better about it... I can only hope they are dealing with it better than they have dealt with MH370.”
Ms Weeks said her family, including her two small children, Lincoln, 3, and Jack, 14 months, had kept her going through the traumatic experience and urged relatives to band together.
“[My family have] been my rock and they’ve kept me going so look I hope all the families from MH17 have everyone around them and the support because you really do need it.
“They’ve been invaluable for me to get me to here and they will be hopefully for these families as well.”
She said the second disaster in four months had caused fresh memories she was only just starting to cope with.
"It’s just brought everything flooding back and I just can’t believe that, all those poor people what’s happened to them,” she said.
"This is a huge blow and it’s just bringing everything back... we’re back to day one again."
"I’m just blown away, I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it’s happened, four months and two planes and all this loss of life, it’s just overwhelming to be honest. Absolutely overwhelming."
