MH17 Forensic Work to Collect Valid Evidence - Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 (Bernama) -- Forensic work on victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 are being done not only to ascertain their identity, but to collect valid evidence to bring perpetrators to justice. Health Minister Dr S. Subramaniam said the work led by the Dutch investigation team was complicated and would take weeks to be completed. "If we only aimed at identifying the bodies, the process would be much easier, but for this case to be taken to court, we need to provide valid evidence," he told reporters after launching the 21st International Sindhi Sammelan programme here Friday. He said metal fragments that could be found on the bodies of the victims were among the evidence that could be used for prosecution purposes. Subramaniam said the process to collect data from 45 family members of the victims to establish DNA profiles had been completed and sent to Netherlands for the matching process. Flight MH17, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, went down in Donetsk, east Ukraine near the Russian border on July 17. The Boeing 777-200 jetliner carrying 298 passengers and crew was believed to have been shot down although no party had claimed responsibility. -- BERNAMA