MH17: Woman's hope of seeing sister after five-year wait dashed

A younger sister of one of the passengers on board Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 which reportedly crashed in Ukraine, near the Russian border, had not expected her five-year wait to see her sister becoming bleak.

Noraini Mohd Noor said her sister, Nurahimah Mohd Noor, 67, who had been residing in Geneva for 30 years, is reported to be on the flight.

"She is coming back to Kuala Lumpur to spend Hari Raya with us and planned to be in Malaysia for six weeks," she told reporters at Menara Anjung Tinjau of the KL International Airport (KLIA) here.

Noraini said she came to know about the crash after listening to the news on television and immediately rushed to KLIA to get the latest information on the incident.

She said she last met Nurahimah when the older sibling returned to Malaysia for Hari Raya five years ago.

Flight MH17 left Amsterdam at 12.15 pm (Amsterdam local time) and is scheduled to arrive at KLIA at 6.10 am (local time) the following day.

According to international news agencies, the aircraft, carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew, crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border Thursday.