IPOH, July 17 — "After all this time, I still miss you every day ...”

That is what Norlin Mohd Nor said when reminiscing the loss of her elder sibling Nor Rahimmah.

After two years of her sudden tragic death, Norlin still cannot bring herself to look at photographs of her sister.

Nor Rahimmah was one of the 298 passengers on board the ill-fated MH17 that was shot down as the aircraft flew over Ukraine airspace on July 17, 2014.

"Her pictures evoke painful memories. But what hurts deeper are the many unanswered questions,” the 49-year-old pre-school teacher told Sunday Mail.

To ease her grief, Norlin, a mother of three, said she had to take down all the pictures of her sister that were put on the wall of their family home.

"It’s simply too painful to see the photographs. They make me visualise the circumstances of the crash in my mind,” she said in Kampung Rizab Melayu, Tambun.

"Every day we ask the same questions ... who, why, how did this happen. But we don’t know,” she said.

To further aggravate her grief, Norlin lost her husband in April. He had been her a pillar of strength until he was diagnosed with cancer.

Being the youngest, Norlin was fortunate to be Nor Rahimmah’s favourite.

"She used to feed me and stroke my hair as I fell asleep at night when we were young.”

Since the tragic incident, Norlin has developed a fear of flying.

"Even Hari Raya has not been the same as we would look forward to her phoning us from abroad.

"She wanted to get a feel of the atmosphere at home. She would call and ask what we were cooking and what we were preparing.

"Before the plane crash, she had called me from Amsterdam asking for ulam so she could have it when she buka puasa.

"To this day, when I eat ulam I still remember her.”

And when the family gathers every Aidilfitri, Norlin says the conversation will inevitably shift towards her sister and the events of the tragic day.

"We will wait, no matter how long and how painful it is ... I just want to know the answer before I close my eyes for the final time.”

For former nurse, Wan Aini Wan Hussain, she continues to cherish the memory of her brother flight pilot, Capt Wan Amran. She plans to publish a book dedicated to him.

"There were tributes, prayers offered ... but I want him to be remembered and that’s why I took to writing,” Wan Aini, 63, said in Kuala Kangsar.

"It took about three months to write. It’s about his life, how much he cared for the family and how exceptional he was to those who knew him.”

Wan Amran, she said, was a modest man who may not have liked the idea of having a book written in his honour.

However, she said the family agreed his story should be published.

Wan Amran’s wife, Mariyam, and their children are still deeply affected by his death.

Sharifah Asma Syed Alwi Al Junied, still thinks of her husband, first officer Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi, who was among the 15 Malaysia Airline crew members to perish. But she knows life must go on.

Ahmad Hakimi was one of the 298 onboard the Boeing 777.

Speaking to Bernama recently, she said it had been two years since the incident and realised the need to reclaim her life for her own future and that of her son, Abderrahman, who will turn three in October.

She said following her husband’s absence, Abderrahman became attached with her father-in-law, Dr Hanapi Mohd Noor, 68.

However, Dr Hanapi died last Thursday due to cancer of the gallbladder.

"It saddens me that my father-in-law is also gone now,” she added.

"I cannot afford to be down all the time for the sake of my son, in-laws and everyone.

"I want to be strong so that people can see I have moved on.”

She said she is pretty much settled now.

"I have a full-time job in the Human Resource Department at the United Nations office,” she said.