Crash site a ‘crime scene’ as fighting rages
Print Edition
A TEAM of several dozen international investigators descended yesterday on the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site in eastern Ukraine to begin combing an area now designated as a crime scene.
A few hours earlier, at least 10 Ukrainian soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed by pro-Russian rebels in a town close to the wreckage site. Defense officials said another 13 servicemen remained unaccounted for after the attack.
Investigators from the Netherlands and Australia, along with accompanying officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, traveled in 15 cars and one bus to the crash site, outside the village of Hrabove.
By midday, they began setting up base at a chicken farm for an operation that will initially focus on recovering several dozen bodies still remaining. As the expert team prepared equipment for the search operation, rounds of artillery could be heard periodically falling somewhere in the distance.
In addition to tracking down human remains, the team aims to retrieve the belongings of the 298 people killed when the Boeing 777 was shot down last month.
A small advance team managed to perform an initial survey of the area for the first time on Thursday. For days, clashes along routes to the wreckage site had kept investigators from reaching the area to find and retrieve bodies that have been decaying in the midsummer heat.
An Australian police official told reporters yesterday that the wreckage would be officially designated a crime scene and that it would be divided into zones that will be systematically searched for evidence.
It is believed up to 80 bodies may still remain uncollected at the crash site, which is sprawled in a broad area across fields between two villages.
The team’s drive to the area took them from their base in the rebel capital of Donetsk, through the government-held town of Debaltseve, and back into the rebel-controlled territory, where the wreckage lies. At Debaltseve, the convoy was joined by three vehicles from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Despite both sides in the ongoing conflict in east Ukraine tentatively agreeing to a cease-fire around the crash zone, fighting is continuing nearby.
The deadly attack by rebels on government troops yesterday morning took place less than 20 kilometers south of the crash site, outside the town of Shakhtarsk, which has been the object of sustained battles for several days and still remains in rebel hands. Defense officials said in a statement that an army convoy was struck by mortars during redeployment.
In Donetsk, meanwhile, one person was killed yesterday and three others wounded when mortar fire struck a minibus carrying passengers near the central train station, said city hall spokesman Maxim Rovensky.
The city government in Luhansk said five residents were killed and nine wounded as a result of shelling over the past day. Neither of the city halls specified who they believe was responsible for the shelling.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
