About a third of the 298 people killed in the Malaysia Airlines crash, including a world leading HIV researcher, are believed to have been en route to Melbourne for a major AIDS conference starting this weekend.
Delegates at a pre-conference meeting in Sydney were told on Friday that about 100 medical researchers, health workers and HIV activists were on the plane, including former International AIDS Society president and HIV researcher Joep Lange, and World Health Organisation worker Glenn Thomas.
Also believed to be killed in the crash were AIDS prevention researcher Dr Lucie van Mens and Pim de Kuijer, Martine de Schutter, and Ton Coenen, who all worked for non-profit HIV/AIDS groups.
Health researcher Clive Aspin, who attended the Sydney meeting on Friday, said the news was devastating, coming 16 years after AIDS research pioneer Jonathan Mann also died in a plane crash.