MH17: Family struck twice by lightning

AN Australian whose brother and sister-in-law vanished on doomed MH370 is now mourning two more relatives.

AN Australian woman whose brother and sister-in-law vanished on doomed Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight in March is mourning two more family members, who perished on the passenger plane shot down over the Ukraine yesterday.

In the cruellest of coincidences, Brisbane woman Kaylene Mann has lost four relatives in twin ­tragedies involving Malaysia ­Airlines.

She is still grieving the loss of her brother Rodney Burrows, who, with his wife, Mary, were on MH370 when it disappeared without trace, probably somewhere in the vast Southern Ocean off the coast of Western Australia.

In a lightning-strikes-twice twist of fate, Mrs Mann’s stepdaughter Marie Rizk, along with husband Albert, died on MH17, shot down over Ukraine as they flew home from a month-long holiday.

They had tried — but failed — to change flights in Amsterdam to avoid a long layover in Kuala Lumpur.

The family’s raw heartache was expressed yesterday by Mrs Mann’s 84-year-old mother, Irene Burrows, who is still mourning the loss of son Rodney.

“You can imagine how the family is feeling,” Mrs Burrows told The Weekend Australian from her home in Biloela in central Queensland. “Kaylene is absolutely devastated. She’s upset; it’s her step-daughter.’’

Family friend Andrea MacQueen posted her love and condolences on Mrs Mann’s Facebook page late yesterday.

“What a cruel twist of fate, how your family can be affected twice by Malaysia Airlines,” Ms MacQueen wrote. “Words fail me.”

Mr and Mrs Burrows had been travelling with friends Bob and Cathy Lawton on the ill-fated flight in March.

The Lawtons’ daughter, Amanda, sent her support to Mrs Mann yesterday.

“We’re all thinking of you guys … much, much love,” she said on social media.

Encircled by friends and family at her Brisbane home yesterday, Mrs Mann was too distraught to speak of her anguish.

Her husband, John — the ­father of Marie Rizk — said the couple would focus on the grandchildren, the “two young ones’’ orphaned in the crash. The Rizks’ children, Vanessa, 22, and James, 21, live in Melbourne, where their parents were involved with community and charitable organisations around Sunbury.

A real estate agent, Mr Rizk worked as the director of Raine & Horne at Sunbury, where son James had just joined the business.

Family spokesman Ken Grech, who has worked with Mr Rizk for 34 years as the director of the Raine & Horne branch in Gisborne, said the children were shattered over the death of their parents, who had “just loved life’’.

“The family is quite devastated,’’ he said. “It’s something that hasn’t sunk in yet that their parents aren’t going to walk back in that door at home. It’s going to be a long time for us to heal.”

Mr Grech said he and Mr Rizk — who “had a role in pretty much everything in the community’’ — had planned to step back from the business and let their sons take over in time. “James started earlier in the year,’’ he said. “His father is not going to see him mature into that role. I know his father is very proud of him, as he is of Vanessa’’.

The Rizks were returning from visiting Switzerland, Germany and other parts of Europe.

“They did a trip last year and they enjoyed it so much they thought they’d do a trip this year and pretty much every year from here on,’’ Mr Grech said. “Unfortunately it was their last trip.’’

The Hume Leader reported that Sunbury Lions Football Club president Phil Lithgow had paid tribute to Mr Rizk as a generous supporter of the club.

“He was a sponsor as well as a committee person … very entertaining, very generous of his time and support of the community, well respected,” Mr Lithgow said.

Additional reporting: Natasha Bita and Andrew Fraser