Remains of five more MH17 victims reach Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Oct 4: The remains of five more victims onboard the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 have returned to Kuala Lumpur, a media report said on Saturday.

The remains of Matthew Ezekial Sivagnanam, Muhammad Afruz Tambi, Meling Mula, Liew Yau Chee and wife Lee Kiah Yeen arrived here from Amsterdam Friday, The Malaysian Star reported.

The victims' family members along with Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai and Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein were at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to receive the remains.

According to officials, the remains of only two more Malaysian passengers of the flight are yet to be identified. They are Puan Sri Siti Amirah Parawira, the 83-year-old step-grandmother of Prime Minister Najib Razak, and Shaliza Zaini Dewa, 45.

In August, the coffins of the first 22 Malaysian victims identified in the Netherlands reached Kuala Lumpur airport, where soldiers draped them in the national flag.

Flight MH17, which had left Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile July 17 while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 298 people onboard were killed.

This was the second tragedy to hit Malaysia Airlines this year, after the March 8 disappearance of its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight MH370 with 239 people onboard.

IANS