Lebanese couple were on doomed Malaysian jet

Two Australians of Lebanese origin were among the 298 people on board the Malaysian jetliner that was shot down over Ukraine, the Lebanon-based daily news website Yalibnan reported Friday.

Albert and Maree Rizk, who died on board of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, were returning to Melbourne from their four-week holiday in Europe, the website quoted Voice of Lebanon radio station as saying.

Maree Rizk was the stepdaughter of Kaylene Mann who had already lost her brother in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March.

In March, Mann’s brother Rodney Burrows was traveling with his wife, Mary, on MH370, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, when it disappeared over the Indian Ocean.

MH17, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur,was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine by militants with more than 10 different nationalities on board.

Dutch authorities said 27 Australians were among the dead.

Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko said the aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur inclined near a city with a stronghold of pro-Russian rebels, Donetsk.

Malaysia Airlines earlier said it had “lost contact” with MH-17 whose last known position was over Ukraine.