Najib's visit bears conclusive repatriation period for MH17 victims' bodies

This is among the results achieved during Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's visit to the Netherlands, which bears a conclusive outcome.

With the time frame set, Najib announced the nation would prepare a day of national mourning, the first such ceremony to be held, once the Malaysian remains arrive in the country.

"It will be a solemn and dignified ceremony," he told Malaysian reporters at the end of the visit here Friday.

He was accompanied by wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in the two-day working visit to the country.

MAS Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on July 17.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft which was carrying 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew - was believed to have been shot down, but until today, no one has claimed responsibility for the heinous act.

A total of 195 Dutch nationals and 43 Malaysians were on board the flight.

Najib said Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah would be there for the ceremony.

The prime minister said to date, a total of 126 coffins had been examined and underwent Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process.

The tragedy also brought the two nations of the Netherlands and Malaysia to share the grief and closer bilateral relations.

"Even the Netherlanders understand about the tragedy and they did not put the blame on MAS or Malaysia," noted Najib.

On the development of the two MH17 black boxes, Najib said the preliminary investigation by the independent body in Britain would be made public "in due time".

He said Malaysia and the international investigation team were focusing on entering the crash site in Torez, Ukraine to recover the remnants of the bodies and take aircraft wreckages for investigation.

Therefore, Najib and his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte had made a joint statement on Thursdy to call for immediate cessation of hostilities in and around the crash site.

Above all, the current development could not have been achieved without the sacrifice of the 12 Malaysian team members led by National Security Council (MKN) Principal Assistant Secretary Left-Col Mohd Sakri Hussain, said Najib in expressing gratitude to them.

They were the team which swiftly negotiated with the separatist group leader, Alexander Borodai and brokered the release of 226 coffins from Torez to Kharkiv in Ukraine and later, those coffins were flown to Eindhoven, Netherlands.

They also recovered the two MH17 black boxes, a vital evidence to the investigation that would decipher what really happened to the aircraft and bring the perpetrators to justice.