This Friday August 22 marks Malaysia’s national day of mourning for the victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, so it is timely that 22 remains of those victims will be arriving in Kuala Lumpur International Airport on that date.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said that of the 22 remains, 18 would be arriving in caskets while the other four, having gone through cremation, would be in receptacles containing ashes. The inbound remains include those of a Dutch national.
Wee said the documentation process for the 22 victims was expected to be completed by tomorrow, including going through the handling process and procuring the approval of the Dutch government before being allowed to be flown back to Malaysia.
“Until Saturday, the process for 18 coffins containing the victims’ remains were completed while the process for the ashes in the receptacles is expected to be over this Tuesday.
“We plan to fly back the remains or ashes of the 22 victims this Thursday afternoon and expected to reach (Malaysia) on Friday,” Bernama quotes Wee as saying at a press conference yesterday.
“We will try to bring back the remains of the other victims soon, depending on the handling process and approval from the Netherlands government,” he said.
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the remains of 24 victims had been identified by Dutch authorities, 14 of whom were passengers and 10 crew members.
Muhyiddin also said 16 of the victims’ remains would be flown back to Malaysia on Friday, a numbeer that Wee’s announcement revised.
The remains will arrive at 10am Friday morning at the Bunga Raya Complex in KLIA.
Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17 while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board. The majority of MH17’s victims were Dutch nationals, while there were 43 Malaysians recorded as having been on board the jetliner.
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