PM’s Visit Bears Conclusive Repatriation Period for MH17 Victims' Bodies

AMSTERDAM, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Only after a two-week period will the Malaysian government announce the repatriation date for the remains of those on board the downed Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH17 aircraft which crashed in Ukraine on July 17. This is among the results achieved during Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's visit to the Netherlands, which bears a conclusive outcome. With the time frame set, Najib announced the nation would prepare a day of national mourning, the first such ceremony to be held, once the Malaysian remains arrive in the country. "It will be a solemn and dignified ceremony," he told Malaysian reporters at the end of the visit here Friday. He was accompanied by wife Rosmah Mansor in the two-day working visit to the country. MAS Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on July 17. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft which was carrying 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew - was believed to have been shot down, but until today, no one has claimed responsibility for the heinous act. A total of 195 Netherland nationals and 43 Malaysians were on board the flight. The prime minister said to date, a total of 126 coffins had been examined and underwent a Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process. The tragedy also brought the two nations of the Netherlands and Malaysia to share the grief and closer bilateral relations. "Even the Netherlanders understand about the tragedy and they did not put the blame on MAS or Malaysia," noted Najib. On the development of the two MH17 blackboxes, Najib said the preliminary investigation by the independent body in Britain would be made public "in due time soon". He said Malaysia and the international investigation team were focusing on entering the crash site in Torez, Ukraine to recover the remnants of the bodies and take aircraft wreckages for investigation. Najib and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte made a joint statement on Thursday to call for immediate cessation of hostilities in and around the crash site. He said the current developments could not have been achieved without the efforts of the 12 Malaysian team members led by National Security Council principal assistant secretary Left-Col Mohd Sakri Hussain. The team had negotiated with the separatist group leader, Alexander Borodai and brokered the release of 226 coffins from Torez to Kharkiv in Ukraine and later, those coffins were flown to Eindhoven, Netherlands. They also recovered the two MH17 blackboxes, a vital evidence to the investigation that would decipher what really happened to the aircraft and bring the perpetrators to justice. "There was no ransom paid, nothing (in achieving the deal)," reiterated Najib. -- BERNAMA