Ashes of Vietnamese killed in MH17 crash returned home

After four months of AND testing, the bodies of the Vietnamese victims were identified, and their cremated bodies were carried on Malaysia Airlines Fight MH725 to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi at 12:10 pm on November 13.

The woman, 31-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Minh; her daughter, Dang Minh Chau, 17; and her son, Dang Quoc Duy, 13, were among the 298 people on board flight MH17 when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17.

The Boeing 777 was destroyed while flying from Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Everyone onboard the plane died in the tragedy.

The three Vietnamese victims were born in Vietnam, but they later obtained Dutch citizenship.

The parents and other relatives of the three deceased cried upon receiving their ashes at the airport from concerned agencies, in the presence of representatives of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Hanoi.

No one has claimed responsibility for the downing of the plane over war-torn Ukraine, but it is suspected that the airliner might have been hit by a missile fired by pro-Russian separatists, according to Independent.ie.

Minh and her two children lived in a small town about 60 km from the Dutch capital of Amsterdam.

They boarded flight MH17 in Amsterdam and were expected to arrive in Hanoi on July 18 after transiting in Kuala Lumpur.

They indented to return to Hanoi for a summer vacation and to visit Minh’s parents.
The family of the deceased said they will conduct a funeral service at the Phung Hung Funeral House in Hanoi on November 11.

In August, 2013, Minh’s husband, Dang Quoc Thang, passed away in an accident.

Minh’s younger brother is living with their parents in Hanoi.