Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash: Woman loses brother, stepdaughter in two MAS disasters

Albert Rizk, who was returning to Melbourne after a month-long holiday in Europe, died on Thursday when MH17 came down in eastern Ukraine -- PHOTO: ALBERT RIZK/FACEBOOK 
Albert Rizk, who was returning to Melbourne after a month-long holiday in Europe, died on Thursday when MH17 came down in eastern Ukraine -- PHOTO: ALBERT RIZK/FACEBOOK 

SYDNEY - First, she lost a brother when the plane he was on mysteriously disappeared during its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing four months ago.

This week, Ms Kaylene Mann relived her horror when a missile attack above Ukraine brought down a passenger jet with her stepdaughter onboard, killing all its 283 passengers and 15 crew.

The two disasters, both involving Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flights, have left Ms Mann, an Australian, too distraught to speak to the media on Friday, the Brisbane Times reported.

Ms Mann's stepdaughter, Ms Maree Rizk, died on her way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when her Flight MH17 flew over Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk region on Thursday and was shot down by a missile that was widely speculated to have been fired by pro-Russian rebels controlling Donetsk.

Ms Rizk was returning home to Melbourne from a Europe vacation with her husband, Albert.

Ms Mann's brother Rodney Burrows and sister-in-law Mary were on the ill-fated Flight MH370 that was thought to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean on March 8 but its wreckage has not yet been found.

Despite the double loss, another brother of Ms Mann's, Mr Greg Burrows, said he has no ill feelings towards the airline.

"Nobody could predict this one and nothing's been proven on the first one, so there's nothing there," he was quoted as saying by the Agence France-Presse.

"We are still waiting for answers on the first one," he added.

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