Malaysians attend special prayers for MH17 co-pilot Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi and flight attendant Nur Shazana Mohamed Salleh during a burial ceremony in Putrajaya on Friday. About 20 remains of the MH17 victims arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

AFP

Forensic experts have identified 46 additional victims of the downed MH17 flight, bringing to 173 the total number of passengers killed whose identity has been verified, the Dutch justice ministry said on Friday.

"Among the 46 victims, 26 were of Dutch nationality," the ministry said in a statement.

"The relatives of victims have been informed," it said, adding that the nationalities of non-Dutch fatalities would remain private "at the request of these countries' embassies".

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 exploded over insurgent-held east Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 on board, with the West accusing Russia-backed separatists of shooting it down and Moscow blaming Kiev.

The identities of some passengers may never be known as the search for human remains has been repeatedly disrupted by fierce clashes between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian troops around the crash site.

Malaysia lays its dead to rest

Millions of black-clad Malaysians fell silent on Friday in tribute to their 43 countrymen killed in the MH17 disaster as the first remains were brought home and laid to rest amid deep sorrow and anger.

People across the country of 28mn observed a minutes' silence at 10:55 am, shortly after a Malaysia Airlines jet landed with the remains of 20 people killed when MH17 was blasted from the sky by a suspected surface-to-air missile over Ukraine.

Five weeks after the July 17 tragedy, the coffins and urns were conveyed to white hearses in a solemn ceremony presided over by Malaysia's King Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah and Prime Minister Najib Razak at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Muslim-majority Malaysia had declared a day of national mourning, with flags lowered to half-mast, and business, sport, entertainment and other events cancelled or toned down.

Residents of the capital Kuala Lumpur overwhelmingly donned black, with many Muslim women in flowing black robes and Islamic headscarves, as state television aired recitations from the Qur’an and photos of the dead.

"No words can express the sense of loss in seeing the bodies return, my prayers are with the victims and families of #MH17," Najib said on his Twitter feed.

Dozens of Malaysia Airlines cabin crew and pilots, wearing their work uniforms and holding Malaysian flags and white flowers, held an emotional vigil near the airport ceremony, some weeping, others praying for their lost colleagues.

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