The Malaysian Airline crash and death of so many Dutch travellers dominates both the front and inside pages of the Netherlands’ morning papers.

The AD carries the headline ‘In Shock’ with a full page photograph of two people who are visibly shaken by events. ‘Shocking: all signs point to an attack on the Malaysian holiday flight’, the paper states.

Inside it devotes 10 pages to the tragedy, including an interview with defence expert Ko Colijn who says that ‘no one in this conflict benefits from this’.

Prime minister

The Volkskrant’s front page is a picture of a lone figure picking through the smoking wreckage and prime minister Mark Rutte’s quote that the crash is ‘one of the worst air disasters in Dutch history’.

‘Everything points to pro-Russian rebels’, the paper says, and asks again why the plane flew over a ‘war zone’.

In an analysis on page 3, the paper says if the crash is proved to be the work of pro-Russian forces, Moscow will be faced with a diplomatic storm. ‘The revolt in eastern Ukraine will be Russia’s Frankenstein’s monster,’ the paper states.

‘The Kremlin faces a difficult choice. It can drop the rebels, close the borders and watch as the Ukrainian army deals with the rebellion. That would be a difficult pill for Putin to swallow. But the alternative would be equally unattractive – a return to the dark days of the Cold War.’

Pink suitcase

NRC Next’s front page is a haunting pile of coloured baggage in a field, including a yellow Schiphol duty free bag and a partly opened pink suitcase.

Inside, five pages of coverage is dominated by a picture of people laying flowers and lighting candles outside the Dutch embassy in Kiev. ‘There are many questions, but not every question has an answer,’ the paper states.

‘Why do we fly over such dangerous area as eastern Ukraine,’ the paper asks. The airspace is open, provided planes are at an altitude of over seven kilometres, according to Iata. Airspace above Ukraine is busy with flights heading to and from Asia, Nrc Next says.

Terrorism

‘Aircraft from Amsterdam a terrorist target,’ says the Telegraaf, which emblazons the death toll over a picture of people inspecting burning wreckage.

Inside, the paper has three pages of coverage including an interview with the Ukrainian ambassador to the Netherlands. ‘This war is now at the heart of Europe,’ Olexander Horin is quoted as saying.

‘This incident makes it clear we are not talking about a civil war but a war that threatens the stability of Europe.’