MH17: Another victim has been identified, says Liow
KUALA LUMPUR: Another Malaysian victim onboard the ill-fated MH17 flight has been identified, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (pix) .
Liow said that the victim Muhammad Afruz Tambi Jiee, is the 13-year-old son of Tambi Jiee who was onboard the ill-fated flight with his family.
“Although we have managed to identify the remains of Muhammad Afruz, the Dutch authorities have yet to give any approval to release the remains to be brought back to the nation,” he said at a press conference after launching the World Maritime Day celebration here today.
He added that the remaining Malaysian MH17 victims Siti Amirah Parawira and Shaliza Zaini Dewa have yet to be identified.
Liow expressed hope that the ongoing post-mortem process at Hilversum in Amsterdam could be expedited so that all Malaysian victims can be returned to the country.
When asked to comment about news where Kyiv could not guarantee safe passage for the investigation team to enter the crash site, Liow said that he was sad to hear that especially as Ukraine had promised Malaysia a safe passage for the probe team to enter the crash site.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said yesterday that he was informed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk that Kyiv could not guarantee safe passage for an international investigation team to enter the site.
Kyiv also could not provide a concrete schedule as to when the probe team could enter the MH17 crash.
The two leaders are in New York for the annual United Nations general assembly.
Liow said Malaysia is still monitoring the situation in Ukraine very closely.
“The window opportunity that we have is very small with the winter season fast approaching. It will dampen our efforts and cause a lot of problems in trying to retrieve the plane wreckages as well as the remains. We will not give up and we will continue to pressure the Ukraine government as well as the separatists to allow the investigation teams to enter into the crash site,” he added.