EINDHOVEN: THE first batch of 40 caskets carrying the remains of those who died in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy arrived here late yesterday afternoon from Kharkiv, Ukraine, on board two military transports.
The nation and this historical city, which had seen its share of bloodshed and carnage during World War 2, observed a minute’s silence as the caskets were taken out of the cavernous bays of the two military aircraft and loaded into the 40 waiting black hearses lining the flight line.
Air traffic here was grounded, trains were stopped and people on the streets bowed their heads in reverence for a minute in respect to those who lost their lives when MH17 was blown out of the sky on July 17.
The Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules of the Dutch Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Royal Netherlands Air Force) touched down at the military base here at 4pm (10pm Malaysian time) against a backdrop of various nations’ flags fluttering in the soft afternoon breeze at half mast.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte led dignitaries on the tarmac as the aircraft landed at Eindhoven Airport.
Malaysia was represented by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Present were more than 1,000 relatives of the 193 Dutch dead, waiting at the edge of the flight line.
They had made the trip here without confirmation whether their loved ones’ remains would be in the first batch or second.
Soon after, the second military transport, a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), also landed and taxied to its parking bay, with its cargo of 24 caskets.
A lone bugler sounded a haunting strain on his bugle before the first section of pallbearers from the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces retrieved the caskets.
The mood yesterday, officially declared by The Netherlands as a national day of mourning, was sombre and moving. Except for the crackling whine of aircraft engines, the only sound was of the caskets being carried off the aircraft.
After the last casket was loaded into the hearse, one by one, they formed a long black ribbon, escorted by military police outriders, and headed for a nondescript hangar with corrugated walls where they were temporarily interred.
The remains were later taken to Hikversum, about 100km from here, for the identification process.
Roads along the route from here were closed for the convoy of hearses to pass, one coffin per car.
In Kiev, Leslie Andres reports that 26 of the bodies transported on the planes from Kharkiv were believed to have been Malaysians.
However, confirmation could not be immediately obtained.
A simple but meaningful ceremony held in Kharkiv Airport, some 500km from Kiev, was a reminder that this was only the second phase of the journey back home for the victims.
It will be a long process of identification remaining, but Malaysian police and the armed forces’ forensics units and Health Ministry disaster victim identification (DVI) unit members are determined to meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s directive to bring Malaysian remains home by Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Leading the armed forces’ Royal Medical Corps team is Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, while the DVI and police forensics teams are led by Datuk Dr Mohd Ilham Haron and Assistant Commissioner Hussein Omar Khan, respectively.
National Security Council principal assistant secretary Lieutenant Colonel Mohd Sukri Hussain said taking the bodies out of the refrigerated train, which brought them from separatist-held territory to Kharkiv, was painstaking. This, he said, was especially so because of security issues.
Sukri said one of the fears was that the bodies may have been booby-trapped with explosive devices. For this reason, each body bag was scanned before being taken to another area for an initial identification process. “After this initial identification process, we put the remains aboard the Hercules aircraft headed for Eindhoven.”
The DVI process for positive identification will take place at a military base in Hilversum near Utrecht. An international team of forensics and DVI experts, including Malaysia, will conduct the identification process.
Sukri said Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart) members were also at Kharkiv helping with the handling of the remains. The Smart team was given the go-ahead by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has taken charge of security in the area.
Islamic Development Department (Jakim) members in the special investigation team left for the Netherlands this morning to handle the remains of Muslims.
A total of 282 body bags and 85 bags containing body parts have been sent back by Donetsk People’s Republic separatists after negotiations between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and rebel leader Alexander Borodai.