Four of 10 Jakim personnel return from the Netherlands

One of them, the grand imam of Masjid Putra in Putrajaya, Abdul Manaf Mat said they had to endure the transition from hot weather to cold and, being the Ramadan month, they had to fast for up to 20 hours.

"When preparing the remains for burial, my thoughts were just on fulfilling my religious obligation," he told reporters at the KL International Airport after flying in from Amsterdam.

Abdul Manaf, who had headed the Jakim team, and the three other personnel were welcomed at the airport by Jakim director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha.

The 10 imams had been in Ukraine and the Netherlands since July 18.

Abdul Manaf said that in the Netherlands, bodies were prepared for burial at one place unlike in Malaysia where this was done at the nearest mosque.

The Jakim personnel were assisted by those from the Religious Corps of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) as well as the Muslim community in the Netherlands, he said.

Meanwhile, Othman said four Jakim personnel, led by the grand imam of Masjid Tunku Mizan Zainal Abidin in Putrajaya, Hazarudin Baharudin, would remain in the Netherlands until the preparation for burial of all the Malaysian Muslim remains had been completed.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft is believed to have been shot down over the troubled country.