King, Queen Meet Families of Malaysian Passengers, Crew of MH17

PUTRAJAYA, July 26 (Bernama) -- King Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah and Queen Tuanku Hajah Haminah on Saturday met with the next-of-kin of several of the Malaysian passengers and crew of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 at the Marriott Hotel here. Their Majesties expressed their condolences to the relatives over the loss of their loved ones in the crash of the Boeing 777-200 in Ukraine on July 17 and conversed with them. Tuanku Abdul Halim and Tuanku Hajah Haminah spent about 45 minutes with the 100 people from 30 families of the passengers and crew at the hotel. Also present were Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim. Earlier, Their Majesties were briefed on the crash by MAS director of customer services Mohd Salleh Tabrani. A MAS representative said many of the families would return to their homes during the Aidilfitri (Eid) holidays while the rest would remain at the hotel and await developments. Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in troubled eastern Ukraine. It was carrying 298 people - 283 passengers and a 15-member Malaysian crew. It is believed that the plane was shot down. Besides Malaysians, nationals from the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among the 283 passengers. Bodies recovered from the crash site were being flown to the Netherlands for identification before being sent to the various countries. -- BERNAMA PIC: King Tuanku Abdul Halim (first right) and Queen Tuanku Hajah Haminah (second left) greet family members and relatives of MH17 vicitms at Marriott Hotel. -- BERNAMAphoto