Some of the world's top AIDS researchers were on board Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17, which was shot down over the Ukraine on July 17. Dozens of scientists, activists and health care workers were also aboard the doomed flight.
Joep Lange, a well-known clinical researcher fighting AIDS, was among those killed.
The United Nations AIDS program (UNAIDS) was welcoming guests to its AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, when news of the tragedy became known. Up to 100 people headed to the conference were also aboard the flight.
"It is a difficult moment. We lost friends, activists and people who are the voice of the voiceless," Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, said.
Lange made fighting AIDS his life's work since the 1980s, in the earliest years of the disease. He strove to make antiretroviral medicines available to patients around the globe. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) consists of using three or more drugs to arrest the development of the HIV virus, which can lead to AIDS. From 2002 to 2004, Lange was also president of the International AIDS Society.
"Joep Lange was one of the most creative AIDS researchers, a humanist, and tireless organizer, dedicated to his patients and to defeating AIDS in the poorest countries," Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said.
Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it disappeared above Grabovo, Ukraine, with 298 people on-board. The AIDS activists were scheduled to transfer in Kuala Lumpur to a flight headed toward Melbourne. The government in Kiev and rebels in the eastern part of Ukraine blame each other for the fighting.
The situation in Ukraine has become more violent in recent months, as separatists in the east battle the government in Kiev. Most airlines have re-directed flights around the embattled areas, for reasons of safety. Malaysia Airlines, hurting for cash since one of its flights went missing months ago, continued flying over the region to save money on fuel.
The International AIDS Society (IAS), which organizes the conference, stated it is working to confirm the number of delegates killed in the downing of the airliner. Coordinators say the conference will go on as planned, despite the loss of Lange and dozens of supporters and researchers.
Flying along with Lange was his partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren.
This is the second crash incident putting Malaysia Airlines in the news in recent months. In March, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on a flight to Beijin from Kuala Lumpur, and is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean. Wreckage from that craft has never been recovered, and questions surround its fate.
Former President Bill Clinton is the scheduled headline speaker at the AIDS 2014 conference. This is the largest AIDS conference in the world, with around 14,000 attendees expected this year.
"Those people are really, in a way, martyrs to the cause that we are going to Australia to talk about," Clinton told CNN.
