Ukrainian Teams to Search MH17 Crash Site for Remains: Dutch TV

 

(Reuters) – Ukrainian search teams will comb the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which went down on July 17, and return human remains and belongings to the Netherlands, Dutch television reported.

Dutch current affairs program Nieuwsuur said on Sunday an agreement had been reached between Dutch and Ukrainian officials and the teams would start work on Monday.

 

 

It has been nearly four months since the aircraft was downed over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 crew and passengers — two-thirds of them Dutch nationals.

 

Dutch forensics teams in the Netherlands have so far identified 272 victims of the crash, but there are still believed to be remains in the area. Dutch officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

 

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday he was furious that Dutch investigators had been unable to finish work in the area due to ongoing fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces.

 

Dutch experts have been on standby in the region to access the crash site, but were only able to get to see a small portion of the vast area where debris from the MH17 fell to earth.

 

Ukrainian authorities will hand over any findings to a team of Dutch authorities in the town of Kharkiv, the program said.

 

The aircraft, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, is believed to have been hit by a surface-to-air missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian separatists.

 

(Reporting By Anthony Deutsch, editing by David Evans)