Dutch government declares Wednesday National Day of Mourning

For the first time since 1962, the Dutch government has announced a National Day of Mourning.

The Day of Mourning is for the victims of the flight MH17, that crashed in Ukraine four days ago, costing the lives of all 293 people on board, of which 193 Dutch citizens.

The day of mourning is on the day that the first plane with (remains of) bodies of crash victims arrives from the Ukraine, at the airport of Eindhoven.
The plane's arrival will be broadcast live on all Dutch tv and radio stations.

The National day of mourning means that the Dutch flag will be flown half mast on all government buildings. At several times during the day, church bells will ring. This will for example be the case around 4pm, when the plane with bodies lands in Eindhoven. After the plane lands, there will be one minute of silence observed in the entire country.

Schiphol Airport will announce the minute of silence and switch off the entertainment screens. It will also reduce the number of departing planes to a minimum.
The (regional) bus company Connexxion will interrupt its services for a minute. GVB (the Amsterdam public transport company) decides tomorrow morning about this.