Relatives of missing Malaysians in Mecca for DNA tests

PETALING JAYA: The relatives of two missing Malaysians in the Mecca crane tragedy arrived in the holy city Friday night for DNA tests to be conducted.

"The child of Abdul Habib Lahman and two of Shahidan Saad's brothers arrived last night for DNA testing," said the pilgrim fund’s chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (pic).

"They informed us that the results of the DNA testing will be available in latest three weeks from yesterday," he said at a press conference on Saturday.

The DNA tests will be tested with the seven bags of bone and body parts that were collected from the scene of the accident.

"Once the body parts have been identified, Tabung Haji will go to Mecca to perform the final rites and the remains will be buried in the Ma'la cemetery," said Abdul Azeez.

He added that the relatives of the two missing Malaysians would stay on to perform their hajj pilgrimage.

"I have met with all the relatives of the deceased and we will continue giving assistance to the families of the deceased and the injured," he said.

As of Monday, five Malaysian pilgrims have been confirmed dead, another two remain missing, while one person has been found safely.

On Sept 11, 118 people were killed and 394 injured when a crane toppled over the grand mosque in Mecca.

Ten Malaysian victims were injured in the accident that was triggered by a heavy sandstorm.

The crane was part of a massive renovation project that is currently underway to expand the grand mosque, allowing it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

The accident occurred less than two weeks before the annual hajj pilgrimage on Sept 21, where hundreds of thousand of Muslims will gather at Saudi Arabia's two holy cities, Mecca and Medina as part of a tenent of Islam.