FLIGHT MH17 - Remains of MH17 pilots, young family coming home tomorrow

The Malaysian Insider

The remains of pilots Captain Wan Amran Wan Hussin and

Captain Eugene Choo Jin Leong, as well as of a young

Dutch-Malaysian couple and their baby girl, are among the

nine Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 victims to arrive in

Malaysia tomorrow.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said two of the seven Malaysian victims, comprising three passengers and four crew, were Muslims.

He said the remains, in five caskets and four urns, would arrive on a commercial flight from Amsterdam and was scheduled to arrive at the Bunga Raya Complex, KL International Airport for the ceremony to honour the victims at 8.30 am.

Aside from the two pilots, the other two crew members are co-pilot First Officer Muhd Firdaus Abdul Rahim and flight steward Sanjid Singh Sandhu.

Also returning to Malaysia are the remains of a young family comprising Dutch citizen Paul Goes, his Malaysian wife Subashini Jayaretnam and their 21-month-old daughter Kaela Maya Jay.

The remaining two passengers are Malaysian Loh Yan Hwa and her Dutch husband Fan Shun Po.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, as well as Cabinet members and the next-of-kin and relatives of the victims would be at the ceremony, Hishammuddin told a media conference at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang today.

He said the remains of five of the victims would be taken to their respective burial/cremation grounds using hearses while those of the other four would be flown by EC725 helicopters to destinations as requested by their next-of-kin.

The remains of two of them would be flown to the Bayan Lepas International Airport, Penang while those of the other two to Bukit Mertajam and Teluk Intan, respectively, he added.

For the remains to be flown to Bukit Mertajam, he said, it would first be transferred into a hearse to be taken to Taman Skyline, Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur.

"So far, we have succeeded in repatriating the remains of 24 Malaysian victims, 12 of whom are Muslims," he said, adding that the victims comprised 14 passengers and 10 MH17 crew members.

With the remains of seven more Malaysian victims to be repatriated tomorrow, this brings to 31 the number of Malaysian victims who have been identified from the tragedy.

Meanwhile, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said all preparations for the funerals, as requested by the next-of-kin of the victims, had been made.

"This includes for the remains of Sanjid Singh Sandhu, which would be taken to his house at Jalan Klang Lama before it is flown by helicopter from the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Sungai Besi (to Bukit Mertajam)," she added. – Bernama, September 1, 2014.