Preliminary report on MH17 investigations out next week, says minister
Preliminary data from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17's black boxes will be obtained next week and is expected to facilitate the process of bringing to justice those reponsible for downing the aircraft over Ukraine last month, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said today.
The
transport minister, however, said that investigations at the crash site were still ongoing and more information was needed before a report can be prepared.
"Investigations into MH17 are still ongoing and there was a meeting on the initial investigations that was headed by the Dutch investigators and Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation.
"All the preliminary data will be prepared by next week and I hope the initial report will reveal the investigations the same week," Liow told a press conference.
Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine, near its border with Russia, on July 17 enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur after it was shot down with what was believed to be a Russian-made SA-11 surface-to-air missile near the war-torn region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, comprising 283 passengers and 15 crew.
Those responsible for downing the jet have yet to be identified, with Russian and Ukrainian authorities blaming each other and pro-Russian separatists for the disaster.
Besides Malaysians, nationals from the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among the 283 passengers on board. The crew were all Malaysians.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who was also at the press conference, said the focus of the meeting today was the three different locations involved in securing the remains of MH17 victims.
He added that these included the crash site in Ukraine, in the Netherlands where the remains were being kept and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
"We discussed the development and preparations at the operations centre and there was consensus on making our focus more targeted.
"The focus has been at the crash site to allow the remains to be brought out and in the Netherlands to ensure that the process of identifying the victims is done speedily so that it can be taken back to the respective countries.
"In Malaysia, the military laid out to the ministers the arrangements being made to receive the remains in Kuala Lumpur and on how to accord them final respects with the involvement of the whole country," he said.
Hishammuddin said that the suggestion to declare a national holiday when the remains arrive needed the approval of the Cabinet.
He said that Australia declared a national day of mourning without the presence of the remains and that Malaysia will look at the suitability of doing the same here.
"We will give preference to the families as this has been the practice since the MH370 tragedy.
"When the remains are identified in Amsterdam, we will make a decision on how they are going to be brought back, whether at one go or separately.
"Today Australia declared a day of mourning. That is one way of doing it without the remains of the MH17 passengers.
"All these factors are being looked into. The Information Ministry is considering the best way to accord the highest honours to the victims and their families," he said.
When questioned if there was a need for Malaysia to sanction the country suspected of being responsible for the downing of the flight, Hishammuddin said that what was important now was bringing back the remains of the Malaysian passengers and crew.
"Given our capacity, it is better for us to think about bringing back the remains and to hope that whoever is responsible will be brought to justice.
"We have never moved from that, that will continue. No one should feel that our efforts to find those responsible are not being given enough emphasis," he added. – August 7, 2014.
