KIEV: THE three Malaysian aviation experts who entered the crash site of flight MH17 have handed over the evidence they collected to the Dutch team leading the investigations.
They left Grabovo late Thursday night and arrived here yesterday, exhausted but glad they did what they could for the victims of the tragedy and their families.
Malaysia Airlines director of engineering Azahari Dahlan and Department of Civil Aviation senior assistant directors Captain Philip Joseph Selvaraju and Mohd Naemy Fahimy Mustapa were barred from speaking to the media.
The trio had only enough time to shower, pack up and leave with the rest of the Malaysia special investigation team for Kiev’s international airport to catch a flight back to Kuala Lumpur.
Asked about the trio’s mission to Grabovo, National Security Council principal assistant secretary Lieutenant-Colonel Mohd Sakri Hussain said he had yet to be briefed on their findings.
However, sources said all evidence collected by the team had been handed over to the Dutch, who were assisted by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“The team was not allowed to touch anything. So, it was all photographic and visual evidence,” said a source.
Yesterday, the New Straits Times had reported that the team had been granted unrestricted access to the site to collect visual evidence.
It was also reported that the trio had extended their stay by a day, having originally been scheduled to leave Grabovo on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Sakri said the special investigation team considered their mission a success as they had managed to retrieve the remains of most of the victims and the black boxes from pro-Russian separatists.
“The next phase is retrieving (physical evidence) from the crash site. For this phase, Malaysia Airlines and the Department of Civil Aviation will coordinate with the relevant people,” he said.
The evidence, he said, included the belongings of victims.
“We will not forget the belongings of the victims. We will get them out, too, (for the sake of the victims’ families who may want them back).”
Meanwhile, OSCE officials were seen entering a new area in Grabovo where debris from the MH17 wreckage had fallen. The area, discovered only two days ago, was not far from the main crash site. It was not immediately known whether any bodies had been found there.
With their mission completed, the special investigation team here left for Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
For the vast majority, the Muslims, it meant being home in time to spend Hari Raya with their families.
The fact that so many people would not get to spend the celebration with their loved ones who were on board flight MH17 must weigh heavily on their minds, making it even more important to do so.
-NST
