MH17 Thousands of city folk gathered at Dataran Merdeka and in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Kuala Lumpur, today to share the nation's grief over the MH17 tragedy in conjunction with the Day of National Mourning.

Like the rest of the country, they observed one minute of silence at 10.54am after the coffins containing the remains of 20 of the Malaysian victims which arrived earlier on a Malaysia Airlines special aircraft MH6129 at the KLIA in Sepang were placed in the waiting hearses.

The crowd, in dark attire, started to gather at the historic landmark around 9am to watch the official ceremony of receiving and honouring the victims at KLIA via a large screen at the square.

During the minute of silence, the Muslims in the crowd offered the Al-Fatihah while the non-Muslims silently prayed for the victims according to their religious belief. Many were seen shedding tears.

Meanwhile, motorists around the area stopped their vehicles as a mark of respect for the MH17 crash victims during the minute of silence.

Foreign tourists were also seen observing the minute of silence in sharing this nation's sorrow over the MH17 tragedy.

MH17 was on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it crashed in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border on July 17.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft carrying 298 people including 15 crew members, is believed to have been shot down by a missile over the troubled country. Forty-three of them were Malaysians.

Newspapers go black and white

The front pages of most of the major newspapers were in black and white to express the sadness felt on the Day of National Mourning for the victims of the MH17 tragedy.

The headlines, photos and quotations on the front pages also mirrored the sadness felt by the nation over the deaths of those who were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 that went down in Ukraine in July.

Malay language newspaper Utusan Malaysia used black with the heading 'Penghormatan Negara' (National Tribute) and the names of the 20 passengers and crew on the ill-fated flight.

Another Malay daily Berita Harian had a black-and-white photograph of the Jalur Gemilang hoisted at half-mast on its front page.

With the headline 'Malaysia Berkabung' (Malaysia in Mourning), a third newspaper Sinar Harian used a photograph of the funeral rites performed at the Monuta Ineeme funeral home in the Netherlands on Thursday before the remains were flown here.

Harian Metro also used black and white, carrying the headline 'Kembali Bersemadi' (Back for Burial) as well as quotations of the final words of MH17 leading stewardess Mastura Mustafa to her husband Mohamed Affendi Khairuddin sent on the Wechat application.

Her message said she would not always be with him, but one day she would go to meet Allah, never to return.

English language daily The Star had a black-and-white front page which carried the photographs of the 20 MH17 tragedy victims whose remains were brought home today, and with the headline 'They are home'.

The front page of another newspaper The Sun had the photograph of a Malaysia Airlines aircraft and the Jalur Gemilang flown at half-mast, with the heading 'Malaysia Mourns RIP MH17.'

Meanwhile, The New Straits Times published the names of all the 43 Malaysian victims of the MH17 tragedy on its front page, which was also in black and white.

The Malay Mail 's front-page headline, in the meantime, was 'They're coming home, no words to say farewell'.

On the Internet, the mood was equally sombre, with the local media using black and white for their logos on their websites and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The masthead colour of the website of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), www.bernama.com, was also in black and white.

Besides Malaysians, nationals from the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among the 298 people on board.

- Bernama