Linda Pabellon, left, and Tirso Pabellon, sister and brother respectively of Irene Pabellon Gunawan, one of three Filipinos who perished in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 passenger plane crash over the pro-Russian rebel stronghold in East Ukraine Thursday, leave the Department of Foreign Affairs after obtaining their passports Monday, July 21, 2014 at suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines. AP
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is assisting the relatives of Filipinos who perished in the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in getting their passports and visa to travel to the Netherlands.
“The next of kin of the Filipino victims were here in the (DFA) to apply for their travel documents and we facilitated application of passport and will help with their visa application in the Dutch embassy,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said in a press briefing Monday.
“They also met with Malaysian authorities to arrange their travel to Netherlands,” he said.
The three Filipinos who perished in the crash in Ukraine, identified as Irene Gunawan, 54, and her two children Sherryl Shania Gunawan, 14; and Darryl Dwight Gunawan, 20, were supposed to be heading to the Philippines for a family reunion.
Irene’s Indonesian husband also perished on the plane that was carrying 298 people including crew. MH17 crashed in Ukraine last July 17 after leaving Amsterdam heading for Kuala Lumpur.
Pro-Russian separatist rebels are believed to have shot down the airplane.
DFA said that it was still verifying reports that the rebels have taken all the bodies from the crash site.
“There are still a number of things that are unclear such as the remains of passengers. We read reports that rebels have taken the bodies but we would like our embassy in Moscow, Russia to verify and confirm these,” Jose said.
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