MH17: 70 coffins of crash victims has undergone forensic and identification process

Seventy coffins containing remains of victims who perished in the Malaysia Airline (MAS) flight MH17 has been inspected and undergone forensic and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) at the Dutch military facilities in Hilversum, here.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said out of the 227 coffins which were flown from Kharkiv, Ukraine until yesterday, 70 coffins have been opened.

"Based on our DVI team members at the facility, it is expected the process could be completed within two or three weeks," he told Malaysian reporters here today.

The MAS flight MH17, was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on July 17.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft which was carrying 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew - was believed to have been shot down, but until today no one has claimed responsibility for the heinous act.

Dr Subramaniam said the ministry had gathered all fingerprints, DNA and dental records of the 43 Malaysians onboard MH17.

He said the records had been completed last week while the fingerprints were gathered from the Home Ministry and the Registration Department.

"All the records, data, were uploaded to Interpol investigation system in Netherlands for Ante-mortem," he said.

Dr Subramaniam explained that the ministry had also gathered the DNA from relatives in Malaysia for a family comprising a parent and their child, who perished in the tragedy.

The three were Malaysian origin and lived in Holland and Australia.

He said during Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's scheduled two-day working visit to Amsterdam tomorrow, the ministry would offer its assistance to Netherlands in expediting the DVI process.