MH17: Victims' families hope remains could arrive before Aidilfitri

Family members of victims on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH17 flight hoped the remains of their loved ones could be brought home before Aidilfitri.

Ahmad Reza Abdullah who is an uncle of stewardess Nur Shazana Mohamed Salleh, 31, said the family wished for her remains to be buried in their village in Penang.

He thanked the government for its untiring efforts to retrieve and bring home the Malaysian victims.

"We hope the process will be smooth and that Nur Shazana's remains can arrive home before Aidilfitri," he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Nur Shazana's mother Sharom Ibrahim , 57, expressed anxiety over reports that only 282 of the 298 bodies had been recovered.

"We cannot be sure that Shazana's remains have been found. As long as all the bodies are not found, I am distressed," she said.

Sharom said a MAS representative had taken blood samples from her and Shazana's father and younger sibling for DNA purposes.

Maimon Sarpan, 74, whose son, Mohamad Ghafar Abu Bakar, 54, was the in-flight supervisor in MH17 hoped that his remains could be properly brought

home and buried.

"I want his remains buried here so that I can see his grave," she said.

Najib told a press conference at Seri Perdana, Putrajaya early today, that he had spoken to Alexander Borodai, the commander of the pro Russian separatists which control the region where the tragedy occurred, and had reached an agreement on certain matters.

Firstly, 282 bodies now in Torez would be transferred by train to Kharkiv before being flown to Amsterdam on a Dutch C130 Hercules aircraft. After completion of the forensic process, the remains of Malaysian citizens would be flown home.

Secondly, at around 9 pm on Monday (Ukraine time), two black boxes were handed and will be in the custody of the Malaysian team at Donetsk.

Thirdly, independent international investigators would be assured security to enter the tragedy site and conduct a full investigation.

Nur Shazana and Mohamad Ghafar were among 15 crew in MH17 which crashed in east Ukraine on Thursday while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.