A family who lost three loved ones in the MH17 tragedy has decided to call off the planned cremation of all the three bodies according to Buddhist rites in Kuala Lumpur and agreed instead to have the bodies cremated in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Tan Ah Chin, 62, and her husband, Ng Pae Soon, 67, a former health clinic employee said they made the decision due to poor health and not knowing the proper burial procedure.

"We do not understand or know how to conduct the funeral. So my family has decided to hand over the matter completely to my son and son-in-law.

"The remains of my daughter Ng Qing Zheng, 30, were among those of the 16 Malaysian victims that have been identified so far through the forensic process," she told reporters at her house in Jalan Haji Jaib, here on Thursday.

According to Tan, all matters would be taken care of as soon as the authorities had identified the bodies of her other daughter, Ng Shi Ing, 33, and one-year-old grandson, Lee Jian Han.

The former English school teacher said they hoped the bodies of Shi Ing and her grandson could be found and properly interred.

She said the family was being kept informed of the developments on her daughters and grandson from time to time by her son-in-law, Lieutenant Commander Lee Vee Weng, 35, who is serving in the Royal Malaysian Navy in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Shi Ing, a lecturer in the Teaching of English as a second language (TESL) at Universiti Malaysia Sabah's (UMS) Psychology and Education Faculty, was attending a conference at the University of Antwerp, Belgium to present a working paper before returning home with her younger sister and son on MH17 from
the Netherlands.