KUALA LUMPUR: THE remains of Malaysian victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 will unlikely make it back home before Hari Raya Aidilfitri, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He said this was because of the technicalities involved in the DNA verification and legal issues that must be resolved.
“There are technicalities and legal requirements that cannot be avoided, therefore, it is highly unlikely for the remains to be brought back soon,” Najib said after signing a condolence book at the residence of the Dutch ambassador here yesterday.
In his condolences, Najib wrote: “On behalf of the government and the people of Malaysia, let me express our deepest condolences to all the families in the Netherlands who have lost their loved ones in the tragic incident of MH17.
“We feel for the families and our hearts go out to them.”
Najib, who had pushed for the remains of Malaysians who died in the crash last Thursday to be returned to their families by the end of the fasting month, said he would hold talks with the Ukrainian authorities for international investigators to gain full access to the crash site.
Present were Dutch ambassador to Malaysia Harry Molenaar and his wife, Dr Loes Nas.
Forty-three Malaysians, including 15 crew members and two infants, and 193 Dutch nationals were among the 298 passengers on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Some of the bodies had been flown to the Netherlands on Wed-nesday. Experts will now work to identify them based on DNA samples collected from relatives, a process which could take a long time to complete, before the remains could be returned to their next of kin.
In Putrajaya, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the ministry had handed over to the Netherlands the DNA profiles of family members of Malaysians who had died in the crash to facilitate identification of bodies.
“However, their remains might not arrive soon as the bodies may have to remain there longer for a post-mortem to determine the elements of criminality.
“There is strong suspicion that the plane was shot down, and as such, leaving the bodies with elements of criminality. There is a possibility that countries affected may want to seek justice for their citizens,” he said at the Health Ministry yesterday.
Dr Subramaniam said building a criminal case required data and evidence, which would be time-consuming to obtain.
“Taking the extent of the investigation into consideration, it might take some time before the remains can be repatriated.”
Dr Subramaniam said six teams from the Serdang and Putrajaya hospitals were on standby to handle the remains once they were repatriated from the Netherlands.
The ministry has also activated a special team to handle the MH17 crisis locally, together with the 22-member team sent to Ukraine.
“We have activated the Mental Health and Psychosocial Response and forensics team to help our crisis response team. The 22-member team has been sent to Kharkiv, Ukraine, joining 17 others from the police and Chemistry Department,” Dr Subramaniam said.
-NST
