Major AIDS conference to proceed despite crash

Acknowledging that some of its attendees might have been aboard Malaysian Flight MH17, which crashed in Ukraine on Thursday, organizers of AIDS 2014, a major international conference now in its 20th year, said the event will go ahead as planned in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday.

"In recognition of our colleagues' dedication to the fight against HIV/AIDS, the conference will go ahead as planned and will include opportunities to reflect and remember those we have lost," a statement from the International AIDS Society said.

Among the dead were at least 108 people on their way to attend the conference, including Joep Lange, a leading HIV researcher who once chaired the IAS, and Glenn Raymond Thomas, spokesman for the World Health Organization.

Comments on Twitter included one from Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, the conference's co-host: "My thoughts& prayers to families of those tragically lost on flight #MH17...Many passengers were en route to#AIDS2014 herein#Melbourne."

"This is a huge loss, not just to the conference but to the world," said Zhao Yan, a researcher at the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, who planned to fly to Australia on Saturday to attend the conference for the second time.

"Those on the plane, whether I knew them before or not, will always be my colleagues in fighting AIDS," she said.

The Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777 carrying 298 people left Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur when it was downed in Ukraine about 40 kilometers from the Russian border on Thursday. The cause is disputed, but the aircraft is believed to have been hit by a surface-to-air missile from the war-torn region.

"At this incredibly sad and sensitive time, the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy," the organization said.

chenmengwei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/19/2014 page7)