MH17 tragedy probe may take one year to determine culprit, Dewan Rakyat told

An international investigation team may require at least one year to gather evidence and bring to justice those responsible for the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 disaster, the Dewan Rakyat was told ton Tuesday.

"We expect the probe team to take at least one year, or even more, to gather clearer evidence to prosecute those involved," said Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin when winding up debate in the house.

Elaborating on developments in the probe into the Flight MH17 tragedy, he said it was still too early to determine those responsible though the wreckage of the aircraft was removed recently from the crash site in eastern Ukraine.

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.

Besides Malaysians, nationals from the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among the 298 passengers and crew on board.