MH17: Malaysian DVI Personnel To Assist In Sending Victims' Remains To Amsterdam

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has deployed 18 disaster victim identification (DVI) personnel to Kharkiv, Ukraine to assist in sending the remains of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 victims to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai in a statement here Tuesday said the DIV personnel would assist in tagging and transferring the bodies to a Dutch military plane, C-130 Hercules. "I have been briefed that the forensics team and relevant support teams will now have to undergo a process that will take a few hours, prior to the remains being flown to Amsterdam. "We still need to get to the truth of what happened, and we hope for the investigators to commence their work at the crash site to determine this," he said. The bodies of those on board the ill-fated Boeing 777 aircraft was brought to Kharkiv via a train from Torez about 11am Ukraine time (4pm Malaysian time) Tuesday. The DVI personnel were despatched to Kharkiv, following an announcement by Prime Minister Najib Razak Monday night that 282 bodies would be moved by train from Torez to Kharkiv after he had successfully negotiated with Alexander Borodai, who is in command of the region in troubled Ukraine where the crash had taken place. MAS Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border on Thursday night. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft was carrying 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew. It is believed that the plane was shot down but until today, no one has claimed responsibility. -- BERNAMA