MH17 : Remains Of Six Expected To Be Released Within 48 Hours

From Mohd Faizal Hassan

THE HAGUE, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- The remains of at least six more Malaysian victims of the flight MH17 tragedy are expected to be released within 48 hours from today from the Military Medical Centre in Hilversum, near here for funeral arrangements and to be sent home.

According to sources, the six victims were identified as Malaysians after undergoing the identification process and autopsy recently.

"Normally, the morgue will inform the Army Medical Centre to take the remains for funeral arrangements according to their respective religions," he said.

Speaking to Bernama and Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) today, he said hopefully the remains of the six victims could be sent back this week.

According to the Standard Operations Procedure, as soon as the remains have been identified as belonging to a country, the victim will have to undergo four important processes.

This included getting the death and medical certificates, disaster report, victim transportation permit and the letter of consent from the Dutch public prosecutor for the remains to be buried or cremated.

Once the process is completed, the remains will be moved to the Monuta Innemee funeral home in S-Gravenhage here, about 90km from Hilversum for funeral rites according to each's religion.

A Bernama survey of the morgue found a family member of the victims discussing the funeral rites.

Those present at the discussion at about 11am, which included representatives of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), seemed calm and asked the morgue officials questions concerning travel arrangements for about an hour.

Last Friday, the remains of the first group of 20 victims,which included 11 passengers and nine crew members, were brought home from Amsterdam in a special aircraft.

Yesterday, the remains of the second group of three victims arrived in Malaysia.

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.