MH17: Four more Malaysian victims identified

The remains of four more Malaysian victims of the flight MH17 tragedy had been identified in Amsterdam, said Liow Tiong Lai

KUALA LUMPUR: The remains of four more Malaysian victims of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 tragedy had been identified in Amsterdam, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

He said the remains of two victims were given approval by the Dutch authorities for repatriation while consent for the rest was still under process.

"The remains for which approval was given are those of two children of Tambi Jiee," he said, referring to Muhammad Afzal Tambi, 17, and Marsha Azmeena Tambi, 15.

The remains of their father were brought to Malaysia on Sept 9. Liow said the other two victims whose remains had been identified were steward Shaikh Mohd Noor Mahmood, 44, and passenger Liew Yau Chee, 38.

"Either two or all four of the victims are expected to be brought back soon," he told reporters at a press conference held after officiating the Selangor MCA Convention at Wisma MCA here today.

As of Sept 9, the remains of 35 victims, including two Dutch nationals, had been brought back to Malaysia from Amsterdam.

Of the 298 passengers and crew on board Flight MH17, which was believed to have been shot down in eastern Ukraine, 43 were Malaysians.

Liow said the Malaysian security forces were making attempts to work with the Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russia militants in the area to enter the crash site to continue looking for evidence and remains of victims.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft was believed to have been shot down over the troubled country.

Besides Malaysians, nationals from the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among those on board.

On the search for Flight MH370 which had been missing since March 8, Liow said 58 hard objects were detected in the southern Indian Ocean and efforts were being made to determine if these were connected to the missing aircraft.

The aircraft disappeared from radar on March 8, as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.

The Boeing 777-200 has yet to be found, even after an exhaustive search in the southern Indian Ocean where it was believed to have disappeared after veering off course.

Earlier in his speech, Liow said Selangor MCA needed to prove its ability to resolve public issues at a time when the state was facing a leadership crisis.

"Pakatan Rakyat is seen as being at a dead-end in resolving its internal crisis and is no longer focused on issues of the public.

"As such, this is the opportunity for the MCA and other Barisan Nasional component parties in Selangor to show that they can serve the people and free the state from the opposition," he said. --Bernama