First Malaysian victim in MH17 crash identified —report

A victim in the fatal crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane "may have been identified" over the week, a report said Friday.

 

A report on the Singapore-based The Strait Times quoted sources saying the first of the 298 people on board Flight MH17 was named by forensic experts in the Netherlands "between two and four days ago." 

 

The victim was identified as Elaine Teoh, 27, from Penang in Malaysia. She was on the flight with her Dutch boyfriend, Emiel Mahler, also 27, the report said.

 

It added that the couple, who both worked "in the financial sector" in Melbourne in Australia, were bound for Kuala Lumpur after their trip to Portugal and Holland.

 

Authorities "were said to have sent representatives" to inform Teoh's relatives of the development, while Mahler's body "still had yet to be identified at press time," the Strait Times also said.

 

Meanwhile, an Agence France-Presse report on Thursday said that search operations for body parts at the MH17 crash site have been suspended due to "deteriorating security" in eastern Ukraine, where "increasing tension between Kiev—which is battling pro-Russian separatists in the area—has made it too unsafe to continue." 

Pinay among victims

 

Among the passengers in the MH17 flight was Irene Gunawan, a Filipino, her Malaysian husband, and their two children, who were en route to the Philippines from Amsterdam to attend a family reunion.

 

Gunawan's husband, Budy, was a supervisor for Malaysia Airlines.

 

Their relatives from Pagbilao in Quezon province were set to fly to the Netherlands to see their loved ones' remains, the trip shouldered by the airline.

 

"Baka sakali na lang ako," Gunawan's brother, Tirso Pabellon, told GMA News. "Kung sakaling makuha nga 'yung bangkay ng mga bata, kahit ako'y nalulungkot ay [kung] nakita ko rin sa huling sandali, maligaya na 'ko nu'n." —Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/KG, GMA News