Advertisement

Bodies and belongings found

Australian police have recovered human remains and passenger belongings from the MH17 crash site during their first visit to the area.

Federal police were part of an 80-strong Australian and Dutch team that has spent five hours combing farmland, paddocks and villages in eastern Ukraine in an operation that could last up to 10 days.

While deadly clashes between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian rebels continued nearby, the recovery mission was not under threat, Australian Federal Police national security specialist Andrew Colvin said.

“All parties involved respected the conditions set to allow safe passage both in an out of the wreckage site and at the wreckage site itself,” Deputy Commissioner Colvin told reporters in Canberra on Saturday.

Australian representatives were not armed during the visit on Friday and there are no plans to carry arms to the site, concealed or otherwise, he said.

Assuming conditions in the area remain stable, he expects the mission to recover bodies will last seven to 10 days.

The team’s focus is purely humanitarian and will not consider gathering evidence to investigate the crash, he added.

“We are focused on removing the remains and bringing some closure to the families.”

Bodies and belongings will be taken to the Netherlands for identification.

And as soon as the team has done “the best we can do, we will get out”,he said.

He is confident the search will continue on Saturday but admits safety considerations need to be assessed daily.

“We won’t take any unnecessary risks.”

Police are working in hot and difficult conditions at the site.

Each day the team will travel from an Australian base located away from the crash site.

It is more than two weeks since the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet came down after being hit by a missile, killing all 298 people on board, including 38 Australian residents.

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.