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Sattler's tribute to 'brilliant' Fatima

Fatima's WA dream shattered

Former Perth talkback radio host Howard Sattler says the “mongrels” responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 can “rot in hell”, after learning the daughter of a close friend died on the doomed jet.

Mr Sattler condemned the “callous deed” which claimed the lives of 298 passengers and crew when the plane was shot out of the sky over Ukraine on Thursday night (WA time).

On board the Kuala Lumpur-bound Boeing 777-200 was 24-year-old aeronautical engineer Fatima Dyczynski, making her way to WA to begin a new life and internship at IBM.

Mr Sattler, a close friend of Fatima’s Perth-based father, said he was devastated to learn the “brilliant, beautiful young woman” was killed.

“I have just heard the news that the daughter of one of my closest friends, Dr Jerzy (George) Dyczynski, was a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, shot down by the Russian-backed separatists over Ukraine,” Mr Sattler wrote.

“I have had the absolute privilege of meeting this brilliant, beautiful young woman, Fatima during several visits she made to her parents, George and Angela, in Perth, from Amsterdam, where she had graduated as an aerospace engineer.”

On a Facebook tribute page set up by friends and family, a photo collage of Ms Dyczynski shows her posing alongside West Coast Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui.

Mr Sattler said Ms Dyczynski, a former John XXIII College student, had told him of her aspirations to be an astronaut.

“A goal she would likely … have achieved had fate not so cruelly intervened,” he said.

“The mongrels responsible for this callous deed have taken the life of the peace loving and highly cherished only child of my good friends.

“Our hearts go out to them as much as my hatred of the perpetrators. May they rot in hell and the Russians who supplied the means to extinguish the lives of 298 innocent folk suffer as their victims and their families.

“We are devastated and can only imagine the pain dear George and Angela must be going through.

“RIP Beautiful Girl.”

Earlier this year, Ms Dyczynski completed a science degree, specialising in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering, at the Delft University of Technology in South Holland.

In a statement, the university’s executive board said they were dismayed to learn Ms Dyczynski and another student, Wim Bakker, were among the victims of flight MH17.

“For Fatima … virtually nothing seemed impossible,” the university said.

“Her unflagging energy a sparkling inspiration for her fellow students and for us, (she) will be extremely missed.

“We wish her parents, family, friends and colleagues much strength with this terrible loss.”

A self-described “space enthusiast and motivated entrepreneur” who spoke five languages, Ms Dyczynski was the founder of high-tech start-up firm Xoterra Space.

“We are very grieved by the loss of the founder of Xoterra Space, Fatima Dyczynski, who passed away in Flight MH17 to Kuala Lumpur,” the company said in a tribute to its chief executive.

“Fatima was energetic, full of life and her dreams reached to the outermost of space.

“She was brightly outspoken, ambitious and incredibly motivated.

“Many people were inspired by her dreams to make space personal and her passion for innovation and business.”