Fighting rages near flight MH17 crash site, frustrating investigations
Pro-Russian rebel leader in Ukraine confirms they had Buk rockets near where MH17 downed
Fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels raged yesterday near the crash site of Malaysian flight MH17, as countries which lost 298 citizens in the disaster moved to deploy their police to secure the impact zone.
The Dutch team leading the crash probe was stuck in Kiev, unable to join a handful of international investigators at the rebel-controlled site.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's army reported four soldiers killed over the last 24 hours in its offensive to retake the eastern industrial heartland from the pro-Russian insurgents. Two Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down Wednesday 45 kilometres from the crash site, just as the first bodies recovered from the fated flight were flown out to the Netherlands, which counts 193 citizens lost in the disaster.
While the Dutch offered a solemn ceremony for the victims' remains, soldiers hoisting 40 wooden coffins into as many waiting hearses, British experts began analysing the black boxes from the flight.
Investigators said human remains were still strewn amidst the debris of the wreck, where recovery work has been at a standstill since Tuesday.
Dutch authorities said they can only be sure that 200 corpses have been recovered out of the 298 people killed on board.