MH17 The government today gave the assurance it will persist in its efforts to recover the rest of the remains of Malaysian victims of the MH17 tragedy.

The undertaking was given by Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who said a recent cabinet meeting decided that the Malaysian probe team and security personnel return to the crash site in Ukraine to look for the remains.

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.

“This will give some hope to the families whose relatives are not on the list of those whose remains have been recovered,” he said, adding that he and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak were also waiting for word on the remains of their step-grandmother Siti Amirah Kusuma.

Siti Amirah Kusuma, 83, was the second wife of the late Mohammad Noah Omar, grandfather of both Hishammuddin and Najib. Mohammad Noah died in 1990.

“We pray that the rest of the remains (of Malaysians) is most probably at the crash site,” Hishammuddin told a news conference after attending a meeting of the coordinating committee on the ceremony to honour the victims of the MH17 tragedy, at the Bunga Raya Complex in Sepang.

Also present at the press conference were Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai; Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim; Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Kurup and Deputy Transport Minister Aziz Kaprawi.

Besides the 43 Malaysians, nationals from the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among the 298 passengers and crew on board. So far, the remains of 24 Malaysians have been brought back to Malaysia.

Hishammuddin said proactive action had resulted in removing the remains and the aircraft's black boxes out of Ukraine where a war was going on.

He also said: “We try our best to accord honours to those who were under our responsibility.”

Hishammuddin said the government promised to persist in seeking justice for the innocent victims and their families.

“The attorney-general and the international intelligence agencies are gathering evidence. We will do what the prime minister has promised - to bring to justice those responsible for shooting down Flight MH17,” he said.

32 Malaysian victims identified so far

Meanwhile, Liow said the remains of 32 Malaysian victims had been identified so far.

He said that 587 body parts had been brought to the Hilversum Military Medical Camp in the Netherlands, and 183 remains had been identified.

“Some 115 remains were in the process of investigation and identification,” he said.

Liow said the remains of Tambi Jiee, who had travelled along with five members of his family, would be brought back in a subsequent batch. The remains of Tambi’s wife, Ariza Ghazalee, and their eldest child, Mohd Afif, were brought back on Aug 22.

“We need five (pieces of) documentation. As long as that is cleared, we will inform. We don’t know how long it will take,” he said.

Liow said the Transport Ministry would collaborate with other ministries to ensure that all matters pertaining to the MH17 tragedy victims were completed smoothly.

On the black boxes, he said the outcome of the investigation would be announced by the international team of investigators this month.

Nevertheless, this would depend on the Netherlands which, he said, was heading the probe.

Meanwhile, the following are the victims of the MH17 tragedy whose remains will arrive in Malaysia tomorrow:

Malaysians:

1) Capt Wan Amran Wan Hussin (male)

2) Subashni Jretnam (female)

3) Kaelamayajay Goes (female)

4) Capt Eugene Choo Jin Leong (male)

5) Sanjid Singh Sandhu (male)

6) Muhd Firdaus Abdul Rahim (male)

7) Loh Yan Hwa (female)

Dutch nationals:

1) Paul Goes (male)

2) Fan Shun Po (male)

- Bernama