KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — A small group of Dutch and Australian investigators has been walking through the unsecured crash site of the Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine today.
Their governments are preparing police detachments that will try to protect the crash area and help bring the last of the victims home. The Dutch prime minister says his country is ready to send 40 unarmed military police to rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to help investigators. Australia’s prime minister has said his government is close to a deal to send police.
There’s still been no announcement of any large-scale deployment of experts and security personnel, and the site is largely unsecured. The four Australian and three Dutch investigators walked among the widely-scattered plane parts near two grazing cows. They were accompanied by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Speaking in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Australia’s foreign minister said there would be a “police-led humanitarian mission.” She spoke as more remains were placed on flights to the Netherlands today for identification and investigation. The Australian and Dutch planes today carried another 74 coffins from Kharkiv, in government-controlled eastern Ukraine.
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112-a-10-(Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, at news conference)-“a few weeks”-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says security personnel are ready to make their way to the crash site. COURTESY: ABC-Australia ((mandatory on-air credit)) (25 Jul 2014)
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101-c-18-(Peter Leonard, AP correspondent)-“firmly in control”-AP correspondent Peter Leonard reports international monitors are again checking out the widely-spread wreckage of the plane while waiting for a full-blown investigation to begin. (25 Jul 2014)
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APPHOTO MOSB107: An Australian military cargo plane with coffins holding bodies of some of the passengers of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner which was downed over eastern Ukraine last week, leaves for the Netherlands from Kharkiv airport, Ukraine, Friday, July 25, 2014. International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on Friday were traveling to inspect the wreckage of the downed Malaysia Airlines plane and to search for more bodies. Human remains are still being found at the crash site more than a week after the plane went down. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov) (25 Jul 2014)
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APPHOTO MOSB106: Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, foreground, speaks to the media as a Dutch military cargo plane with coffins holding bodies of some of the passengers of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner which was downed over eastern Ukraine last week, prepares to take off for the Netherlands from Kharkiv airport, Ukraine, Friday, July 25, 2014. International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on Friday were traveling to inspect the wreckage of the downed Malaysia Airlines plane and to search for more bodies. Human remains are still being found at the crash site more than a week after the plane went down.(AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov) (25 Jul 2014)
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