A Dutch forensic pathologist who was helping identify the victims of last July’s MH17 plane crash has been fired from the team after showing photographs of the dead at a public lecture.

George Maat, who works at Leiden University, showed photographs of some victims during a lecture in Maastricht earlier this month.

Maat came under fire on Wednesday after RTL television reported on the lecture which had been organised by a medical students’ association. He is also said to have made comments which were outside his field of expertise.

Justice minister Ard van de Steur told parliament on Thursday evening that relatives were shocked by news of the lecture. Maat has since apologised. About 150 people attended the meeting, which was advertised on Facebook.

All but two of the 298 people on board the Malaysian Airways plane have now been identified. Van de Steur told parliament he hopes they, both of whom are Dutch, will have been formally named by July 1.