Slaughtered innocents: MH17's child victims

They are the child victims of Flight MH17.

Budding gymnasts, kindergarteners and toddlers - including a little girl who would have turned two in October - were senselessly killed before their prime.

Photos showed some of the 80 youngsters and infants onboard the doomed jet, before it was shot down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

Eight-year-old Margaux van den Hende (below) was among those who were headed for their holiday with family. She perished, along with her brothers, aged 12 and 15.

Two families from the same street in the Netherlands were also killed.

Tess and Liv Trugg, aged 10 and eight, and their neighbour Sem Wels, 10, died with their parents en route to a holiday in Bali.

Bloomberg News reported that Sem was remembered by his gymnastics club in the Dutch city of Den Bosch.

“With bewilderment and disbelief, we heard... that Sem Wels and his parents were on the disaster plane,” the Flik Flak team said on Facebook. “We will miss this little man with his bright smile.”

Five-year-old Martin Arjuna Paulissen (left) and his sister Sri, three, died with their parents.

Mr Jan Pommer, the mayor in Sint-Michielsgestel, where Martin lived and went to school called him a "sweet pupil".

The local elementary school said in an online condolence register: “Our school is devastated.”

Then, there was Kaela Goes, who never got to celebrate her second birthday.

The 21-month-old and her parents were returning home to Kuala Lumpur after visiting relatives in the Netherlands.

Sources: Bloomberg News, Mail Online, 9news, Facebook, YouTube