40 bodies from crashed MH17 returned to Netherlands

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, July 24, 2014

 

Two airplanes carrying around 40 bodies landed at Eindhoven airport on Wednesday.

People carry a coffin containing the remains of a victim of crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 during a ceremony at Eindhoven airport in the Netherlands, on July 23, 2014. Two airplanes carrying around 40 bodies landed at Eindhoven airport on Wednesday.(Xinhua) 



Two aircraft carrying remains of victims of MH17 that crashed on July 17 in eastern Ukraine landed Wednesday at Eindhoven Airport, where a group of heartbroken families are waiting.

An estimated 40 bodies were flown in from Kharkov, Ukraine. And then the bodies would be escorted by military police to the central city of Hilversum for identification.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the identification could be quick sometimes, but in some cases it would take months.

Two more planeloads of victims will arrive in Eindhoven Thursday. The fatal crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 killed all the 298 people aboard, of whom 193 were Dutch.

Meanwhile, investigators at the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have taken delivery of the two flight recorders of MH17 from the Dutch Safety Board (DSB), which took over formal responsibility for the air crash investigation from Ukraine on Tuesday.

The flight recorders, commonly known as black boxes, were sent to the headquarters of AAIB in Farnborough, Hampshire for downloading and analysis.

A team has examined the cockpit voice recorder. It was "damaged but the memory module was intact," and no sign of manipulation of the recorder was found, according to the DSB.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is helping Ukraine and Dutch authorities probe the crash, said the cockpit voice recorder is in good condition, while the digital flight data recorder is still under review.

As for the on-site investigation, the DSB said the probe is currently "in full swing."

"Although investigators still do not have safe access to the crash site, work to gather and analyze data from various sources is underway in both Kiev and the Netherlands," the board tweeted.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that the recovery of human remains at the crash site had been "quite unprofessional," and called for improved security at the site.

"It is quite possible that many bodies are still out there in the open in the European summer, subject to interference and the ravages of heat and animals. That is the predicament in which we find ourselves," said Abbott.

This situation would "be completely unacceptable for bereaved families in Australia and around the world," the prime minister told a press conference, calling for a full forensic search of the site. Thirty-Seven Australians were on the ill-fated MH17.

1   2   3   4   5   Next  


Print E-mail Bookmark and Share

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)

No comments.

Add your comments...

  • User Name Required
  • Your Comment
  • Enter the words you see:   
    Racist, abusive and off-topic comments may be removed by the moderator.
Send your storiesGet more from China.org.cnMobileRSSNewsletter