Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash: First Malaysian victim identified

Elaine Teoh and her Dutch boyfriend Mahler were bound for Kuala Lumpur after a holiday in Europe when Flight MH17 was downed.

MALAYSIA–Three weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down with 298 people on board, the first Malaysian victim may have been identified, sources said.

Elaine Teoh, 27, from Penang, is believed to be the first Malaysian victim to be identified by forensic experts in the Netherlands.

The Melbourne University alumna was said to have been identified between two and four days ago.

Both the police and MAS authorities were said to have sent representatives to inform Teoh’s parents of the identification.

It is learnt that her Dutch boyfriend, 27-year-old Emiel Mahler, with whom Teoh was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, still had yet to be identified at press time.

Teoh and Mahler were both working in the financial sector in Melbourne and were bound for Kuala Lumpur after holidaying in Portugal and Holland.

It was reported earlier that Teoh’s best friend Tan Sook Theng had been scheduled to pick up the couple at the KL International Airport upon their arrival on July 18.

Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had said the disaster victim identification examination of remains from all 226 coffins transported from the crash site at Donestk, Ukraine, should be completed first.

Najib said this was so that the international investigation team could arrive at a conclusion beyond any doubt about the victims’ identity before any information was released.

Writing on Facebook, Teoh’s brother David, who had been sharing his thoughts about his sister since the tragedy, said on July 26: “Justice will be served in the heavens. We need not demand it or point faults.

“The world is still learning. The things that you left behind or taught me will be kept in my heart forever.”

He also said it was his sister who had insisted he was given the name “David” and not “Daniel”.

“To know that you have blessed me ever since I am young brings me much joy. Missing you so much,” he wrote.

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