1 in 8 MH17 relatives still struggling with complex grief 10 years after disaster

Ten years after flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, one in eight surviving relatives are still struggling with complex grief. They still haven’t gotten used to their new situation and struggle with chronic complaints like insomnia, concentration problems, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, and long-term serious grief disorders, special professor of bereavement Jos de Keijser from the University of Groningen told NOS.

Keijser spent years researching the bereavement of people who lost loved ones in the MH17 disaster ten years ago today. He also directly assisted people. His research identified four groups of surviving relatives. The resilient group could get their lives back on track. The recovery group is doing better and better. The third group did not have many complaints but did not improve either. And the fourth chronic group continues to struggle.

“One in eight surviving relatives belongs to the chronic group in which things continue to go badly,” De Keijser told NOS. “It also has to do with how you are put together. You don’t learn resilience in school.” He stressed that his findings do not apply to all surviving relatives. For his study, he worked with nearly 300 of the approximately 1,300 MH17 relatives.

“Some people can get their lives back on track after therapy, but for others, it is more difficult,” De Keijser said. “I am impressed by that first group because it also includes people who lost an entire family.”

De Keijser is part of an international study group that exchanges grief experiences after tragedies and attacks, such as those of the relatives and victims of the attacks by Anders Breivik in 2011 in Norway and the 9/11 attacks in New York. “We try to learn from each other so that we can help other people in the grieving process,” De Keijser said. “People are angry, especially in disasters involving perpetrators. That anger is understandable, but this group seeks help less often and continues to suffer from complex grief for longer.”

Grief changes as time goes by, said Berthold Gersons, a professor of psychiatry who has worked with the survivors and loved ones of several disasters in the Netherlands in recent years, including the Bijlmer disaster (1992), the Faro disaster (1992), the Enschede fireworks disaster (2000), the cafe fire in Volendam (2001), and MH17 (2014).

“Last week, there was an online meeting with people involved in the fireworks disaster in Enschede and the question arose: should we stop commemorating after 25 years? I think you should continue because it means a lot to people,” Gersons told NOS. That’s also why the MH17 memorial site in Vijfhuizen is so important, he said.

“On days like today, you feel even more how bad the loss is, and the distance to the memory is increasing,” Gersons said. “A hole has been left in the family or a circle of friends and is not being filled. The sadness does not go away. You process it for the rest of your life. But perhaps you can function with that sadness.”

The national commemoration of the MH17 disaster is happening at the memorial in Vijfhuizen, near Schiphol Airport, from 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.