The Malaysia Airlines plane crash in Ukraine has reportedly claimed the lives of some of the world’s top medical researchers, who were heading to Melbourne.
Organisers of the International AIDS Conference, due to begin next week in Melbourne, are urgently seeking information on expected attendees thought to be on the plane that went down near the Russia-Ukraine border.
Several medical researchers have already expressed sympathy online upon hearing reports that both World Health Organisation (WHO) staff and well-known HIV researchers have died in the crash.
A spokeswoman for the conference said she could not confirm if any speakers or attendees were on the ill-fated MH17 flight, but stated that organisers were looking into it.