A Dutch team took advantage of a pause in fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine on Friday to recover human remains from the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash site, the Dutch prime minister said.
The remains were brought to the city of Kharkiv for a preliminary forensic check, after which they will be transferred to the Netherlands for further identification.
The findings were made after a mission in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES).
Mark Rutte said “the team recovered human remains from the so-called burn site” where the plane hit the ground, but he gave no more details.
It was the first time in weeks that Dutch authorities had been able to reach the area.
All 298 passengers and crew, two-thirds of them Dutch, died on 17 July when the aircraft was downed.
Kiev blames pro-Russian separatists for the airliner’s destruction. Russia says a Ukrainian military aircraft shot it down.
So far, 289 victims have been identified.
Security conditions were good enough on Friday for a small Dutch team, accompanied by members of the Ukrainian fire brigade and officials with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) officials, to search part of the crash site, Rutte said.
The remains would be sent back to the Netherlands for identification.
Tuesday 4 November 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/01/mh17-more-human-remains-found-at-crash-site-says-dutch-pm
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