International experts finish work at Boeing crash site in Ukraine
RightWork at the crash site of the Boeing passenger airliner in Ukraine is over, international experts said on Thursday.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 passenger airliner on a flight from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur crashed in the area of hostilities between local militias and Ukrainian governmental troops in east Ukraine’s Donetsk region in July last year. All 298 people aboard the airliner died in the air crash.
Most of the air crash’s victims were Dutch nationals.
"We have fulfilled all the tasks set to us," military adviser at the Netherlands Defense Staff Theo ten Haaf said.
"We held searches on two burnt-out sites close to the settlement of Grabovo where we found the remains and important personal belongings of the air crash victims, such as passports and ornaments, as well as the Boeing debris. In addition, we collected debris on a large area north of the settlement of Petropavlovka, which was earlier inaccessible due to continued fighting," the expert said.
International experts can return to the Boeing crash site in Ukraine if new human remains are found but there are no such plans at present, he added.
"No security problems emerged during the search effort," the expert said, adding the truce between the Ukrainian conflicting parties was largely observed.
"Local residents and rescue services provided us all the necessary support," the Dutch expert said.
The international search team comprises about 30 experts from the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia, of which 20 worked directly at the airliner crash site.
The search work completion was announced on Wednesday by the Emergencies Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.