THE parents of three children who died during the tragic Malaysian Airlines crash in 2014 have admitted they “considered suicide” after they heard the news. Otis, 8, Evie, 10, and Mo Maslin, 12, were on their way home to Perth, Australia, when they boarded the doomed MH17 flight with their grandfather Nick Norris, 68. Anthony […]
THE parents of three children who died during the tragic Malaysian Airlines crash in 2014 have admitted they “considered suicide” after they heard the news.
Otis, 8, Evie, 10, and Mo Maslin, 12, were on their way home to Perth, Australia, when they boarded the doomed MH17 flight with their grandfather Nick Norris, 68.
Anthony Maslin and Marite Norris had sent their children home early from a family holiday in the Netherlands to start the school term, while they “finalised some matters”.
Hours after their children boarded the plane on July 17, 2014, they heard the news that the flight had been shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine.
All 283 passengers and 15 crew on board were killed – including the couple’s three children and Maslin’s father Norris.
Now, five years after the crash, the children’s parents have spoken out about how they considered suicide after they heard the news that the plane had been downed.
Speaking to Australian Story, Norris said: “Where we were was hell.”
“Where we are now is a different place, and what we feel we owe to the Australian public is to let you know how we got to where we are now.”
In a heartbreaking on-camera interview that will air on Australian television this week, the pair said they were leaning out the window of their Amsterdam apartment in the early hours of the morning after the crash.
They deliberated whether or not to jump together, but ultimately decided not to, because didn’t want to inflict the pain they were feeling on anybody else.
Maslin also said that he woke during the night to his phone flashing with missed calls.
He looked at the news and saw many articles about the flight, then checked his booking to confirm the flight number his children were on.
Maslin said: “Our kids were citizens of the world.”
“They were really open-minded and really welcoming to all people.”
Marite added: “When their innocent bodies were shot out of the sky I stretched my arms as high as I could and screamed for them.”
“The love in my heart will always be open for them.
“My arms will always be reaching for them.”
While other family members of the people who died during the crash were contacted by Malaysian Airlines, Maslin and his wife were not.
They eventually made it to Amsterdam’s Schipol airport to learn more about the disaster before they returned home to Australia.
Maslin and Norri said that the arrival of their fourth child, Violet, in 2016, helped to ease the heartbreak of the past few years.
The pair still deal with post-traumatic stress disorder from the accident.
