San Jose teammate remembers Flight 17 victim as happy person

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A memorial of flowers is growing at the Dutch embassy in Kiev. Many of the victims of the crash are from the Netherlands. ABC7 News takes a look at how the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 tragedy is being felt here in the Bay Area.

There were 298 people killed, which means there are 298 stories times all the friends and loved ones they left behind.

In the smoldering, smoking, and now wet from rainfall wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, there were more than clues. Again, on Friday, searchers found remnants of lives. Among them was a passport belonging to Quin Lucas Schansman, a dual citizen of Holland and the United States with Bay Area roots. He spent last year in Amsterdam studying business. He is one victim among almost 300.

President Barack Obama said these were "men, women, infants -- people with no connection to the crisis in Ukraine."

Karlijn Keijzer was onboard Flight 17. There are people connected now, sometimes, by roundabout means.

Megan Duffy, for instance, who graduated from Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, earned a rowing scholarship to Indiana University and became friends with teammate Keijzer. Keijzer was 25 years old, a Dutch citizen and doctoral student in chemistry.

Duffy described her teammate in a telephone call with ABC7 News on Friday. She said, "This is a girl, who always had a big smile on her face and was a motivator on the water, off the water."

And her coach Steve Peterson said, "Just seeming like there was so much ahead of her, it's just so hard to believe."

One other note about this story is how it has focused attention on Ukraine and that country's months-long crisis.

Duffy told us that until she lost her friend, she hadn't paid much attention to Ukraine. Now, for her, and so many others who knew people on that flight around the world, it is personal.