Bodies removed from MH17 crash site

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Rescue teams have been recovering bodies of the 298 victims killed after their plane crashed over eastern Ukrainian on Thursday. [Xinhua / CRI]

Rescue teams have been recovering bodies of the 298 victims killed after their plane crashed over eastern Ukrainian on Thursday.

But the process has not been easy as Ukrainian officials and rebels are at odds over the investigation into the tragedy.

Local miners in eastern Ukraine are tasked with removing bodies from the site of the plane crash.

It was not immediately clear where the bodies would be taken, but according to a separatist leader one possible location was Mariupol, in southern Ukraine.

International monitors were seen moving gingerly among decomposing bodies on Saturday, trying to secure the eight square miles crash site.

Ukrainian officials have said that separatists had removed 28 bodies from the crash site and had not allowed any bodies to be removed by Ukrainian Government teams or any international teams.

Ukraine's foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin has called on the international community to put pressure on Russia and the separatists to allow access to the site.

Klimkin said the Ukrainian authorities were ready to transport the bodies to the town of Kharkiv where a centre had been set up as soon as they were given access.

Klimkin went on to say that negotiations with the rebels were on-going though a trilateral group, consisting of Ukraine, Russia and Europe's security organization OSCE.

"I'm not carrying out any negotiations with terrorists. We have the trilateral contact group, which is in contact with the terrorists. It is up to the group to have consultations. And they had and they have extremely intense consultations over the last couple of days."

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said that people were "furious" in the Netherlands after hearing reports that bodies at the crash site were not being treated properly.

He called for a thorough investigation.

"We want to know who did this and we want the proof to be there. Once we have the proof we will not stop before the people are brought to justice. Not just the people who pulled the trigger, also the people who made it possible. I think the international community needs to step up its efforts in this respect."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said his country is doing all it can to assist the investigation into the plane crash.

"The Ukrainian government, on my orders, is doing all that is possible to investigate this terrorist act. The investigation will be conducted under the auspices of the International Civilian Aviation Organisation and will be done as clearly as possible."

Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged him to offer concrete help in the investigation.

Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday when it crashed in eastern Ukraine close to the Russian border.

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