MH17 wreckage removal begins in eastern Ukraine
The process of removing the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 has started in eastern Ukraine, where the plane mysteriously crashed four months ago.
The recovery of the wreckage began on Sunday with Dutch experts supervising a team from the Emergency Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
“Today, the recovery of wreckage from Flight MH17 has started. The Dutch Safety Board commissioned the recovery and transportation to the Netherlands of the wreckage as part of the investigation into the cause of the crash of Flight MH17,” the Dutch experts said in a statement.
On July 17, the Malaysian airliner, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russia forces were engaged in fighting. All the 298 passengers and crew on board, including 193 Dutch citizens, were killed in the incident.
According to the Dutch Safety Board, the removal of the damaged parts of the aircraft near the village of Grabove is expected to take several days. Its pieces are to be sent to the Netherlands for investigation.
The Donetsk emergency services chief, Alexander Kostrubitsky, also said that more human remains had been found under the wreckage.
This comes a day after Russia released satellite images purportedly showing a MiG-29 fighter jet firing at the MH17 plane before it crashed.
Western powers and Kiev have accused pro-Russia forces in Ukraine of having fired a Russian missile at the aircraft. Russia and the pro-Russians have denied the accusation.
