KUALA LUMPUR: It was a harrowing two-day mission for "The Dozen Persons" — a 12-man team tasked with getting to a crash site in the middle of a regional conflict between Russia, a nuclear superpower, and Ukraine.
The team's mission: To get to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER which had been shot down by a missile, recover the crucial black boxes, and bring home the remains of the 283 passengers and 15 crew killed in the tragedy.
In a special episode of the 'New Straits Times' 'Beyond The Headlines', the team, dubbed "The Dozen Persons", recounted the constant threat of attacks they faced from both the Russian and Ukrainian forces and militias, as they made their way to the wreckage of Flight MH17.
Unarmed and without any air and ground support, the team embarked on a covert mission to negotiate with Ukrainian separatist leader Alexander Borodai for the remains of the victims and the aircraft's black boxes in war-torn Donetsk.
A TEST OF SKILLS FROM SEPARATIST FORCES
The Malaysian team was subjected to numerous tests by the separatists. Major Dr Mohd Zainizam Zainal from the Armed Forces' Medical Corps, who speaks fluent Russian, was interrogated and searched by separatists armed with AK-47 assault rifles after being isolated from his team at their headquarters.
During this time, he sat in their war room, unnoticed by separatists deeply engrossed in discussions about the war. When he greeted Borodai's second-in-command with "Zdravstvuyte" (hello in Russian), the room fell silent."They asked me how I knew Russian. I explained that I was in Ukraine for seven years.
They then handed me a report and told me to read it."So, I meticulously read it from start to finish. The person who instructed me to read it then informed everyone that I was proficient in Russian," he said, noting that his ability further raised their suspicion of 'The Dozen Persons'.
The separatists then told Dr Zainizam that the Ukrainian army had got wind of their arrival in Donetsk and demanded that they leave immediately or risk being attacked.
He quickly relayed this to the team's chief negotiator, Colonel (Rtd) Mohd Sakri Hussin. Tasked with being the team's interpreter, Dr Zainizam was sent to Borodai's room. Sakri was already there.
While Borodai had a friendly demeanour and was not overtly demanding, they remained cautious, considering his status as a warlord.
Dr Zainizam said Russian President Vladimir Putin's photo was prominently displayed on the wall."I saw Borodai put his 9mm Glock pistol on the table whenever he received phone calls, including one or two from Putin himself, regarding our arrival.
"While he spoke, his fingers played with the bullets on the table, but we maintained our composure," he said.Colonel Muhammad Mustafa Omar, an officer with the Royal Malaysian Air Force's special forces unit Paskau, and an aircraft engineer, faced a similar hurdle when his knowledge of MH17's black boxes was tested.
"The separatists informed us that they had found an orange box at the crash site.
"They proceeded to test me by asking about the position of the black boxes in the aircraft, using a drawing.
"I pointed it out, and explained that the aircraft should have two black boxes: a flight data recorder, and a cockpit voice recorder.
"When he was satisfied with my answer, he showed me pictures of the black boxes and their data (identification) plate.
I confirmed that the black boxes belonged to MH17," he said.
The black boxes, later sent to Farnborough in the United Kingdom, were crucial evidence in the MH17 court hearing.
Thanks to the information in the black boxes, the District Court of The Hague sentenced two Russians, Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky, along with Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, to life in prison in November 2022, for the deadly downing of MH17.
DODGING SNIPER BULLETS AND SMALL-ARMS FIRE
While the negotiations for the retrieval of the black boxes and the victims' remains went smoothly, the team's journey back from Donetsk to Kharkiv with the evidence in tow, was fraught with danger.
While they were being escorted after the handing-over ceremony in the early hours of the morning, Flight Sergeant Mohd Affandy Ahmad Zaini said their cars were stopped and fired upon.
"Our cars were stopped and they opened fire. The ones assigned to escort us returned fire… we were puzzled as to what had happened," said the Paskau operative.Lieutenant Colonel Nadzri Musman said, in the chaos, they were told to get out of the cars and run for the train carrying the remains of MH17's passengers.
"We were told to run in a zigzag pattern to avoid being hit by sniper fire from the Russians or the Ukrainians. We ran for about 100m to get to the train, which was carrying the bodies," he said.
This was not their only near-death experience while in Donetsk. Earlier that day, while the team had attempted to go to the crash site, again escorted by the separatists, they were told to turn back as the Ukrainian army had entered and secured the crash site.
Dr Zainizam said they were informed that it was no longer safe for the team to enter the area.
"I could see from afar that there were armed men in trucks mounted with heavy machine guns. Some were riddled with bullet holes.
"They approached our convoy and ordered us to leave the area immediately for our safety due to airstrikes from Ukrainian attack aircraft, and bombardment from ground forces," he said.
He said while they were turning back towards the headquarters about 100m away, they noticed that the separatist forces had abandoned their positions.