Malaysia Airlines releases full list of MH17 passengers

At a press conference on July 19, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that Malaysia Airlines has announced the final list of nationalities of passengers on flight MH17 that crashed in Ukraine.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai speaks at a press conference on July 19. (Photo: Dung-Giap/Vietnam+)

After this press conference, the airline also announced the full list of passengers' identities (including three Vietnamese people with Dutch nationality).

Mr Liow expressed that Malaysia mourns the loss of the 298 passengers and crew, sympathizes with their families and promises to do its utmost to ensure that the investigation is complete and justice is done.

Regarding the investigation, Minister Liow said Malaysia is deeply concerned that the crash site was not properly secured. The integrity of the site was threatened and there were indications that important evidence was not preserved in the area.

He said that blocking access to the crash site was making the investigation difficult and that any action that hindered the investigation into the truth about what happened to MH17 would be intolerable. Failure to prevent such interference would be a betrayal of the dead.

Malaysia calls on all parties concerned to preserve the integrity of the crash site and allow the investigation to proceed. Malaysia requests that all parties concerned respect the families of the victims and the countries that have suffered loss of life in this incident.

Mr Liow said MH17 had become a geopolitical issue, but we must remember that it was a human tragedy. Days after the crash, the bodies of 298 people were still lying in the open.

Citizens of 11 countries – none of them involved in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine – have not been able to rest in peace. Their lives were cut short by violence; and now violence prevents them from reaching their final resting place. This cannot continue.

He said that on the morning of July 19, the Malaysian emergency operation (special investigation) team arrived in Kiev. He said that the Malaysian side has requested to continue to receive support from the Ukrainian government and relevant parties in the effort to collect and identify the bodies of the passengers and crew and expand the investigation.

Mr Liow said the world has a moral responsibility to ensure that the bodies of all these victims are recovered and treated with dignity. Malaysia wants to play its part in fulfilling this responsibility.

A Ukrainian woman walks through a sunflower field where debris from MH17 fell (Source: AP)

That is why, he said, after this press conference he will fly to Kiev to join the Malaysian emergency operations team in Ukraine. In Ukraine he will work with his Ukrainian government counterpart to support the efforts to recover the victims' bodies and assist in the investigation.

Regarding the flight path of MH17, Mr. Liow referred to some recent comments by some officials from the European Aviation Safety Agency (Eurocontrol), which approves flight routes over Europe in accordance with regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

He said, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing officials, that about 400 commercial flights, including 150 international flights, were flying over eastern Ukraine daily before the crash. Officials from the European Aviation Safety Agency also said that two days before the MH17 crash, up to 75% of flights from other airlines were flying the same route as MH17.

Mr Liow said the flight path of MH17 was a major route, like an air highway. MH17 followed a route that was mapped out by international aviation authorities, approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency, and used by hundreds of other aircraft. MH17 flew at an altitude that was deemed safe by local air traffic control and that MH17 never strayed into restricted airspace.

He asserted that MH17 had followed flight rules. However, on the ground, these rules had been broken by war in an unacceptable way. It appeared that MH17 had been shot down, and all passengers and crew were killed by a missile.

He said that this violation cannot go unpunished. He said that Malaysia once again strongly condemns this brutal act and calls for those responsible to be found and brought to justice./.

The passenger list on flight MH17 includes mother and child Nguyen Ngoc Minh, a Dutch citizen of Vietnamese origin.

According to Vietnam +