Despite his determination to have them back in Malaysia by the Hari Raya holidays, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said yesterday that it might take “weeks or months” before the remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17’s Malaysian victims can be transferred home.
“We cannot avoid a very painstaking process. This is both the technical requirement and the legal requirement,” Najib told reporters after signing a condolences book at the Dutch embassy, according to a Reuters report.
“Therefore it is highly unlikely that the bodies can be brought back in time for Hari Raya.”
Najib had earlier insisted that the remains of MH17’s Malaysian passengers and crew members be returned to Malaysia before Hari Raya, which is expected to fall on July 28.
Of the 298 people on board Flight MH17 when it took off from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, 43 were Malaysian citizens. The Netherlands suffered the most loss of life when the jetliner was allegedly shot down over eastern Ukraine, with 193 of its citizens on board.
On Wednesday, the first batch of 40 bodies from the MH17 crash site arrived at the Eindhoven military airfield in the Netherlands, and will be transported over the next few days to the military base in nearby Hilversum.
There, experts will work to identify them with DNA samples collected from relatives. The process could take months to conclude.
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