Malaysia Airlines crew members hold flowers as they wait outside Bunga Raya Complex at Kuala Lumpur International Airport where victims’ bodies of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 to be flown back, in Sepang, Malaysia, Friday, Aug. 22, 2014. The remains of at least 15 Malaysians killed when the jetliner was shot down over Ukraine will be returned to their home country this week, the first Malaysian victims of the disaster to be flown home, the country’s defense minister said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
KUALA LUMPUR— The bodies and ashes of 20 Malaysians killed when Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine in July have arrived in Kuala Lumpur.
It was the first repatriation of victims from the flight to the country.
The government has urged people to wear black and observe a minute of silence and prayer.
A charted Malaysian Airlines jet arrived Friday at the international airport from Amsterdam, where the bodies of all the victims were first taken.
All 298 people onboard died when the plane was shot down over an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists as it flew to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.
The victims included 43 Malaysians and 195 Dutch nationals.
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