MH17 The remains of 40 Malaysians who were aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine in July have been identified, a senior official said today.

“Only three (Malaysian) victims are left yet to be identified or discovered,” Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein tweeted.

There were 298 people aboard flight MH17 when it crashed in the Ukraine on July 17, after it was suspected to have been shot down by a missile.

Last week, Dutch investigators said in a preliminary report that the plane broke up in the air, probably after being hit “by a large number of high-energy objects”.

Hishammuddin said Malaysia remains determined to return to the crash site with other investigating teams, to ensure that all remains of victims are recovered and to gather more evidence that could provide a clearer picture of what happened.

“Notwithstanding only three Malaysian victims are still not accounted for, we are still pushing to go in (to the crash site) for a final sweep before winter sets in,” he said.

- dpa