Timmermans regrets MH17 oxygen mask comment

Minister Frans Timmermans of Foreign Affairs regrets his comment that one of the victims of the MH17 disaster in the Ukraine was recovered with an oxygen mask. "I should not have said that," Timmermans said this morning in a statement about his comment last night on the television program Pauw. "The MH17 disaster is close to my heart. I live with the relatives. The last thing I want is to in any way aggravate their suffering." When asked why he made the comment Timmermans answered: "Because I'm maybe too involved in this issue. It changed me, it has touched me." Relatives of the MH17 disaster victims received an email this morning, hours after Timmermans' remark, confirming that an oxygen mask was found on one Australian victim. Some of the relatives were very upset about this turn of events and wonder why this information wasn't shared before, Volkskrant reports. The oxygen mask was found around the neck of an Australian victim of the disaster. Timmermans points out that the information was share with the victim's relatives, but not spread any further because no conclusion could be drawn from the information and further research was necessary.