Religious Ritual For Remains Of MH17 Victims On Wednesday

from Mohd Faizal Hassan THE HAGUE, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Several remains of Malaysians on flight MH17 are expected to be accorded religious rituals starting Wednesday. Sources said the remains were expected to arrive at Monuta Innemee funeral home in S-Gravenhage on Monday and Tuesday after leaving the Military Medical Centre at Hilversum, near here. The remains were taken out of the centre, 90km from the funeral home after identified as Malaysians after undergoing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) such as identification and autopsy. Leaders and representatives of religions were called in to conduct the religious rituals as done to the other remains. After the ceremony, the remains would be put on a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight as the third batch. However, the date of departure has not been finalised. Meanwhile, a Bernama visit to the funeral home on Tuesday found that no religious rituals were conducted but preparation was being made for Wednesday. The first batch of 20 remains comprising 11 passengers and nine crew were brought back from Amsterdam on a special flight on Friday followed by the second batch of three remains on Sunday. The identity of remains of one victim sent home on Saturday was not made public at the request of the family. This brings the number of Malaysian victims brought back to 24 out of the 43 on flight MH17. MH17 with 289 passengers including 15 crew members was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17 when shot down in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. -- BERNAMA