KAMPAR: Malaysia will welcome any invitation from the Dutch authorities to send the families of victims to witness the reconstruction of the downed MH17 aircraft, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai on Friday.

“We will send the victims’ next of kin to the Netherlands should they be invited to take part in the investigation.

“As it is, our DCA (Civil Aviation Department) officers and Malaysia Airlines engineers are already there to help in the reconstruction of the aircraft,” he told reporters after launching the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Public Relations Campaign 2014/2015: Volunteerism IV here.

Investigators are expected to begin a three-dimensional reconstruction of parts of the aircraft at the Dutch air force base where the wreckage is stored.

Liow added that the reconstruction exercise would help determine the cause of the incident.

“It will tell us whether Flight MH17 was hit by ground-to-air or air-to-air missile, and diffuse speculations in the past,” he said.

Flight MH17 was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when the aircraft, which was carrying 298 passengers and crew, was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17.-thestar