Najib presses Putin to help access MH17 crash site

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to help grant full access to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 to conduct a full investigation over the incident.

He said more works had to be done before the case could be concluded and hoped that both parties, Russia and Ukraine, would observe that.

“This is where we stand here, there are more questions than answers at this stage to bring closure to the next-of-kin of the passengers involved.

“We hope we can count on you to help us to conclude on what has happened to MH17,” he told Putin during a bilateral meeting here on Monday.

Meanwhile Putin said Russia would help solve the problem together with Malaysia and had agreed that the issue of access to the crash site was the most important thing.

Putin also agreed that it was important to undergo a comprehensive investigation over the incident.

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. So far, the remains of 278 of the victims have been identified by forensics experts at the Military Medical Centre in Hilversum, The Netherlands, where the remains of the victims were brought to from the crash site.