A next-of-kin of three Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 crash victims assaults press photographer

Published: Tuesday September 2, 2014 MYT 10:25:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday September 2, 2014 MYT 10:53:40 PM

MH17: We specifically asked for privacy during funeral, says next-of-kin

BY L. SUGANYA

The altercation that happened during the funeral. - Bernama

PETALING JAYA: A next-of-kin of three Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 crash victims whose funeral was disrupted by an alleged assault of a press photographer, has claimed on social media that his family repeatedly told the media to leave them alone.

The man, who goes by the name Logan Retnam on Facebook, posted that despite repeatedly saying "no media", the photographer ignored their wishes and continued to take pictures of the victim's family and friends.

"I do not understand why the media thinks that we have to share our private moments with them. Do we owe you (the media) that?" he questioned.

"If this happens to your loved ones, probably you can feel the same pain and anger as we are going through now," he added.

In his post, Logan rapped MAS and the funeral parlour where the incident occurred for not respecting the families' wishes not to disclose funeral details.

"MAS published personal details about burial plans when we had told them to protect our privacy.

"Then, the funeral parlour let the media in to cover the event, even though the family had requested for complete privacy," he said.

It was reported that a photographer was punched by the relative of local actress Subashni J Retnam, also known as Shuba Jaya.

The incident happened during the funeral of the actress, her husband Paul Goes, and their infant daughter Kaela Maya.