SEPANG: THE first phase of the investigation into the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy has been completed and the focus has shifted to obtaining evidence from the crash site, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
“The first phase is the collection of data. We have done so through the three Malaysian experts at the crash site.
“We are lucky to be have been ensured a safe passage to the site and the team has done an excellent job,” he said at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport after returning from a week-long trip to Ukraine and the Netherlands.
Liow said he hoped the Ukrainian authorities would continue to secure the crash site to ensure that the area and the evidence were not tampered with.
On the jetliner’s black boxes, he said a team of 10 international experts, including a Malaysian, was in the midst of doing their work in the United Kingdom.
“We have carried out a playback of the cockpit voice recorder, flight path recorder and data recorder and so far, we found that none were tampered with.”
The recorders, salvaged from the plane wreckage in eastern Ukraine, are being analysed by the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch headquarters in Farnborough, southwest of London.
It was reported that investigators had downloaded data from the black boxes and found that they had not been tampered with.
“No evidence or indications of manipulation of the recorder was found,” the Dutch Safety Board said in a statement yesterday.
Liow said the remains of the Malaysian passengers might take longer to be sent back to Malaysia because of the vigorous investigation process and checks conducted by the Dutch authorities.
He said the investigation covered all aspects, including criminal elements.
“It is important for us to look at all angles.
“We have to be thorough so that we can get to the bottom of it.
“We demand justice and we want justice to prevail,” he said.
Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and three officers from the Federal Criminal Investigation Department would leave for the Netherlands to assist in the investigation.
Liow expressed hope that the families and the next of kin of the Malaysian victims would remain patient following the delay in the repatriation process of the remains.
“We do not know when the investigation process will be completed. The Dutch government has assured us that they will do their best to expedite the process.”
He added that the Dutch authorities had invited the Malaysian team to lend a hand at the Hilversum Military Hospital, where the 200 bodies from the downed jetliner were kept for investigation and disaster victim identification work.
“This is a very extraordinary and thorough investigation. The Dutch has invited our Disaster Victim Investigation (DVI) team to the facility.”
He said currently, there were more than 20 Malaysian DVI team members in Ukraine and the Netherlands and more would be sent if there was a need to do so.
“Our top priority, which is to bring home the bodies for burial, remains.”
In Kuala Lumpur, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the work led by the Dutch investigation team was very complicated and would take weeks to be completed.
“If we only aimed at identifying the bodies, the process would be much easier, but for this case to be taken to court, we need to provide valid evidence,” he said after launching the 21st International Sindhi Sammelan programme yesterday.
He said among the evidence that could be used for prosecution purposes, was the metal fragments that could be found on the bodies of the victims.
He said the process to collect data from 45 family members of the victims to establish DNA profiles had been completed and sent to Netherlands for the matching process.
-NST
