MH17: Repatriation ceremony on Sept 2 to involve nine more remains

Armed Forces Chief Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin said so far, nine remains were expected to arrive on that day, depending on several factors.

"There's a certain factor that will cause a change in the number. We believe that by Sept 1, we will have the final number," he added.

Zulkifeli said this at a press conference after chairing the MH Tragedy Repatriation Ceremony Coordination Committee meeting at the Department of Civil Aviation building here Thursday.

He said preparations were being done to receive the remains of the victims in five caskets and four urns from Amsterdam at the Bunga Raya Complex in KLIA.

One of the remains was that of a child, he said.

Zulkifeli said approval had been obtained for the remains of the two foreigners to be laid to rest in Malaysia with their respective Malaysian wives who had also perished in the tragedy.

At the ceremony, the remains of those foreigners, one of which would be in an urn, would be covered with their respective national flags, he added.

Zulkifeli said two EC-725 and a Charlie-130 aircraft would be used to send four of the remains to Teluk Intan, Perak; Bukit Mertajam and the Penang International Airport, while four others would be transported using hearses to various location in the Klang Valley and one to Seremban.

He said the committee would convene another meeting on Sept 1 at the Bunga Raya Complex (KLIA) which would be chaired by Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and attended by the relevant ministers.

So far, the remains of 24 of the victims of the Flight MH17 tragedy had been repatriated, with the identities of two of them not disclosed, following a request from their families.

The first 20 remains were flown home from Amsterdam on Aug 22, followed by the remains of one victim the following day, and three others on Sunday.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.