KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Malaysia will convene an emergency parliamentary meeting to debate a motion to condemn the missile attack that allegedly brought down Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17, Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced tonight.
The prime minister, who was addressing Malaysians live on national television, did not, however, give a date as to when the sitting will be held.
He said although Malaysia will not accuse any party for shooting the plane until the facts are verified, the country condemns the act of terror as “careless, uncivilised and irresponsible”.
“So to express the firm statement of the Malaysian people, I as the prime minister have decided to call for an emergency parliamentary sitting to table a motion to condemn the inhumane act,” he told a live telecast special address on the matter.
MH17 was believed to have been shot down over eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian militants yesterday, killing all 295 people aboard, a Ukrainian interior ministry official said.
MAS said air traffic controllers lost contact with MH17 as it flew over eastern Ukraine towards the Russian border, bound for Asia with 280 passengers and 15 crew aboard.
Najib had earlier today demanded that justice be served on those responsible for Flight MH17’s shocking crash.
The prime minister, once again in the spotlight for the second aviation disaster to hit the country in six months, told an emergency press conference here that although details on how the flight went down still remain sketchy, the truth must be uncovered.
Earlier on, Russian news agency, Interfax, reported claims by pro-Russian separatists that they had found the plane and that its flight recorder, also known as the black box, was removed.
Stressing that the international investigative team should be given full access to the crash site, Najib also said he hoped no debris would be removed.
Malaysia Airlines said 283 passengers and 15 crew were aboard the plane — including at least 173 Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysians, 28 Australians and 12 Indonesians.
