Indonesia to Join Team to Probe Crashed Malaysian Plane

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian government through its embassy in Kiev, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia, is prepared to join a team to probe crashed Malaysia Airlines MH17, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has said. "Now we come into the effort of investigation in the field as the president has stated that we need an international investigation and Indonesia is ready to sit in it (the investigation team)," Marty said on the Presidential Palace compounds here on Sunday. According to him, the Indonesian representatives had followed the initial briefing by the government of Ukraine related to the planned investigation. "In this context, a commission has been established with the deputy prime minister of Ukraine as the chairman. The commission is made up of three working groups which deal with the issues of flight, the investigation of debris, and on the consular," the minister said. Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines confirmed that there were 12 Indonesians among 298 passengers, who boarded flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that crashed in Ukraine on Thursday. There were several passengers from other nationalities such as 192 Dutch nationals, included one US-Dutch citizen, the airlines stated in the press release received by Antara here on Saturday (July 19). Besides, there were also 15 airplane crew and two babies along with 44 Malaysian nationals who died in the crash. Additionally, there were 27 Australians, ten British nationals, four Germans and four Belgians, apart from three Filipinos, a Canadian and a New Zealander among those who perished on flight MH17. Malaysia Airlines said they have coordinated with several embassies to communicate the latest information to the passengers` families. (*) Reporting by Panca Hari Prabowo