Malaysia’s Defence Ministry on Wednesday said the remains of 40 of the country’s nationals who were aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine in July have been

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

“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.

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

However, 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.

Mr. Hishammuddin said that Malaysia has decided to return to the crash site with other investigating teams.

He added that it was to ensure that all remains of victims are recovered and also to gather more evidence.

(dpa/NAN)