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The Malaysian Airways help desk at Schiphol airport's terminal three remained emphatically closed on Friday morning, barricaded shut with additional movable walls. Only a bunch of white flowers behind the container hinted at the tragedy that has befallen Holland. At 12:15pm on Thursday, Malaysian Airways flight MH17 departed from this same gate carrying 298 people – according to the latest information, 189 of them were Dutch. None of them are thought of have survived the incident over Ukraine. The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, released a statement on Tuesday night, saying: "I am deeply shocked by the tragic news about the crash of flight MH17 of Malaysian Airlines from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian territory. A lot is still unclear about the facts, circumstances and passengers." The Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, also expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims, saying he was "deeply shocked" by the news. "We offer our deepest sympathy to the families, friends and colleagues of the victims and to those who are still uncertain if their loved ones were on board the plane." The traditional royal photo call to mark the start of the summer holidays on Friday was cancelled. Friday's front page of de Volkskrant newspaper showed a picture of the wreckage at the crash site, underneath the headline: "One of the worst air disasters in Dutch history." Yet on Friday morning at 8am, passengers were queuing up to check into another Malaysian Airways flight bound for Kuala Lumpur. One couple in their 20s, who didn't want to give their names, said they felt "sad" about what had happened, and admitted they were a little bit scared about boarding their flight. But they were determined not to give up on their holiday, a trip around Indonesia and Sumatra. | 
