MH17 The remains of 20 of the 43 Malaysian victims of the MH17 tragedy are scheduled to be flown to Malaysia today, exactly 37 days after the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 went down in Ukraine.  

Following is a chronology of the events since that fateful day on July 17:

July 17 (Day 1)

• Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 departs Amsterdam at 12.15pm (7.15pm in Malaysia) and is scheduled to arrive at the KLIA at 6.10am (Malaysian time) the next day.

July 18 (Day 2)

• MAS confirms having been notified by the Ukrainian Air Traffic Control that it lost contact with Flight MH17 at 1415 GMT (10.15pm on July 17 in Malaysia) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, about 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

 

Ukraine authorities believe the plane was shot down by rebels in the war-torn zone.

 

Malaysia dispatches its investigators to Ukraine.

 

MAS says the route was declared safe by international aviation bodies and its aircraft has a clean maintenance record.

 

On board the plane are nationals from the Netherlands (193 including one with dual Netherlands/United States citizenship), Malaysia (43 including 15 crew), Australia (27), Indonesia (12), United Kingdom (10 including one with dual United Kingdom/South Africa citizenship), Belgium (four), Germany (four), Philippines (three), Canada (one) and New Zealand (one).

July 19 (Day 3)

• United Nations Security Council convenes emergency meeting on Ukraine crisis and Malaysia demands a full, independent and transparent international investigation.

 

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai flies to Kiev to facilitate investigation team's safe passage to crash site.

 

MAS releases full passenger manifest.

July 20 (Day 4)

• Foreign Minister Anifah Aman departs for Ukraine to assist over the incident.

 

Malaysian investigators arrive at the crash site in Torez.

July 21 (Day 5)

• Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak achieves breakthrough with Alexander Borodai who is in command of the region where the tragedy occurred.

 

Agreement is reached on the release of the victims' remains, on Malaysia to be given custody of the black box and on independent international investigators to be given access to the crash site.

July 22 (Day 6)

• MH17 black boxes handed over to Malaysian authorities in Donetsk, Ukraine.

• Train carrying 282 remains of victims leaves Donetsk for Kharkiv.

July 23 (Day 7)

• Special sitting of Malaysian parliament approves motion condemning the downing of Flight MH17.

 

International investigation team decides to pass MH17 black boxes to UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough for forensic analysis.

July 24 (Day 8)

• Malaysian cabinet cancels Aidilfitri open house out of respect for those killed in MH17 tragedy.

 

Commonwealth Games opens in Glasgow, Scotland, with mark of respect for MH17 victims.

July 25 (Day 9)

• Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail decides to depart for Amsterdam the next day to assist in the investigation into the MH17 tragedy.

July 28 (Day 12)

• Last batch of 38 coffins with remains of MH17 tragedy victims arrives in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, bringing to 227 the number of coffins delivered thus far.

July 29 (Day 13)

• Malaysia secures agreement for international police deployment at crash site.

July 30 (Day 14)

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says downing of MH17 may amount to war crime.

 

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar depart for Kiev.

July 31 (Day 15)

• Seventy remains have undergone the DVI (disaster victim identification) process.

Aug 1 (Day 16)

• Najib arrives in Amsterdam.

 

Malaysia, Netherlands call for cessation of hostilities at crash site.

Aug 3 (Day 18)

• Sixty-eight Malaysian policemen leave for Donetsk to assist in the investigation.

Aug 4 (Day 19)

• It is announced that immediate family members of victims will receive US$50,000 compensation.

Aug 6 (Day 21)

• Search for remains of MH17 crash victims continues in the vicinity of a lake at crash site.

 

Investigation 50 percent complete.

Aug 12 (Day 27)

• Remains of 16 Malaysian victims are identified.

Aug 14 (Day 29)

• Remains of 24 Malaysian victims are identified.

 

Malaysian government declares Aug 22 as Day of National Mourning.

Aug 16 (Day 31)

• Full religious rituals are held for non-Muslim victims.

Aug 17 (Day 32)

• Remains of 26 Malaysian victims are identified.

Aug 19 (Day 34)

• Remains of 28 Malaysian victims are identified.

Aug 21 (Day 36)

• Remains of 30 Malaysian victims are identified.

- Bernama