A loss too hard to accept for Karamjit's family

The atmosphere was one of deep sorrow at the cremation of the late Karamjit Singh Karnail Singh, 54, one of the 20 MH17 crash victims whose remains arrived at KLIA from Amsterdam Friday.

For his family, his death in the tragedy is a loss too difficult to accept.

"Although his remains are now before our eyes, until today our family still cannot accept the fact that he's gone," said his youngest sister, Harjit Kaur, 51, at the cremation held at the Nirvana Memorial Park in Section 21, here.

"Since the day the plane crash was first reported, we had been praying that he was not in the ill-fated plane," she added.

Karamjit's remains which arrived here at 12.35pm for the cremation, were received with lots of tears from the waiting family members, relatives and friends.

Also present to give their last respects on the deceased were State Secretary Datuk Mohamed Khusrin Munawi and Shah Alam Mayor Datuk Mohd Jaafar Mohd Atan.

Mohamed Khusrin also handed over to Karamjit'w widow Harbinder Kaur, the Jalur Gemilang which had drapped the coffin, before the prayer session and cremation began.

The ashes of this fifth child among six siblings will be scattered at sea in Port Klang, Saturday.

The late Karamjit, a safety adviser with ExxonMobil, was on his way back to Kuala Lumpur after working at an oil platform in Usan, Nigeria when the tragedy struck on July 17.

Besides his wife, he also leaves two sons aged 21 and 22.

The Malaysia Airlines plane is believed to have been shot down by a missile in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, while on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

It was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members.