Ukrainian Separatists Extend Cooperation to Malaysian Team

SEPANG (Selangor) July 26 (Bernama) -- The special Malaysian team of investigators sent to Ukraine to gather information on the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 crash was warmly received by the Ukrainian separatists when the team arrived in east Ukraine. "We were surprised with the cooperation extended by them. They were waiting for us to begin the negotiation process," said Major Muhamad Mustafa Omar upon arrival at the KL International Airport here Saturday. He is among 65 members of the special investigation team which returned home after spending eight days in Ukraine. The task also included retrieving the MH17 black boxes and bringing home the remains of Malaysian victims in the crash. Muhamad Mustafa, who received the aircraft's black boxes, said the meeting with separatist leader Alexander Borodai also went smoothly. Pictures of him receiving the black boxes from the separatist group were used by the media worldwide. Although Borodai was a separatist leader, he treated us well, said Muhamad Mustafa, but declined to touch on the details of the negotiation with Borodai. He said one of the challenges facing the team there was having to go through numerous roadblocks mounted either by the Ukrainian army or the separatist group before arriving to their destination. "Actually, my task was to accompany the team. Coincidentally, I also have technical background to ensure the black boxes that were given to us were the right ones and with serial numbers that matched with the aircraft," he added. Meanwhile, a member of the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart), who is from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), Corporal Constantine Anji, 29, said an experience which he would never forget was transferring the remains of the MH17 victims, which were on a train, to the aircraft at Karkhiv. "There were no bodies, but only body parts, the smell was unbearable, my heart cried out, but for the country, I braved myself and transferred the remains," he added. Anji, who has been with Smart for two years, said the area where the corpses were transfered was a safe place and the process took three hours. Another member of the investigation team, Captain Dr Mohd Zainizam Zainal, 31, from the Malaysian Armed Forces, said he would not forget the experience of being guarded by the separatists while escorting the remains of the MH17 victims in the train. "The separatists were everywhere, but they did not harm us," he added. MAS Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in Ukraine. It was carrying 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew. It left Amsterdam at 12.15pm (Netherlands time) Thursday (July 17) and was to have arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 6.10am (Malaysian time) the following day. It is believed the plane was shot down but until today no one has claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft. -- BERNAMA