All news

Malaysia to join criminal investigation of MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine

Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai said his country had conveyed its intention to join the criminal probe to the government of the Netherlands as the country leading the investigation

SINGAPORE, November 9. /TASS/. Malaysia plans to join criminal investigation of the MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine, Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai said on Sunday, adding there were no obstacles for that.

He said that so far, Malaysia had been taking part only in the technical probe into the crash. In his words, his country had conveyed its intention to join the criminal probe to the government of the Netherlands as the country leading the investigation.

So far, Malaysian investigators are still waiting for a possibility to take part in the investigation a Dutch-Belgian-Australian-Ukrainian team is carrying out.

Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on November 5, when he was on a visit to Kuala Lumpur, that it was logical that Malaysia should join the criminal investigation as a country, under whose flag the ill-fated plane was making the flight and whose citizens were killed in the crash.

The Boeing 777-200 of the Malaysia Airlines en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Region, some 60 km /over 37 miles/ from the Russian border, in the zone of combat operations between the Donetsk self-defense forces and the Ukrainian army. All the passengers and crewmembers onboard the aircraft - 298 people - died. Most of the passengers - 193 people - were Dutch citizens.