DPA/Kuala Lumpur
Nine victims’ remains from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine more than a month ago, arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, a senior official said.
The remains were from seven Malaysians and two Dutch nationals of Malaysian descent whose families wanted them buried in Malaysia, according to Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
Hishammuddin said the arrival of seven Malaysians’ remains brought to 31 the total number of Malaysian victims that have been repatriated from Amsterdam, where multi-national forensics experts are conducting DNA tests on all human remains found at the crash site.
Prime Minister Najib Razak led senior government officials in receiving the remains at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
“I pray that the families of victims of flight MH17 that are here today to receive their loved ones remain strong in this time of grief,” he wrote on Twitter.
Forty three of the 298 people aboard the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Malaysian citizens. The plane was shot down by a missile while passing through Ukrainian airspace on July 17.
Family members offer prayers to Malaysia Airlines pilot, Eugene Choo, one of the Malaysians killed in the July 17 MH17 disaster, during a wake service
