7 August 2014

FLIGHT MH17 - Angus Houston disputes reports of shelling near Malaysia Airlines crash site as remains flown to Netherlands






Updated Mon at 12:53pm



Australia's head of the MH17 recovery mission, Angus Houston, has disputed media reports that shelling has come close to the search area overnight.
Media reports suggested the shelling hit an area a short distance from the crash site, but Retired Air Chief Marshal Houston said it was fired from five kilometres away and presented no danger to investigators.
Fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military has intensified since the downing of the Malaysian airliner in rebel-held territory on July 17, with each side blaming the other for the deaths of the 298 crew and passengers.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said two of the six main crash areas had been covered in the search for human remains.
He said more than 100 people made it to the site and spent more than five hours combing the wreckage area on Sunday.
No human remains were found but many personal items were recovered and will be sent north to Kharkiv along with items held in a rebel area.
The possessions will then be flown to The Netherlands and it is hoped they will be returned to the relatives of the victims.
"I'm not sure how they will be matched to victims in terms of identification. I think that might be quite a long process," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
Human remains recovered on previous days will be sent later today by RAAF C17 aircraft from Kharkiv to Amsterdam for identification.
Air Chief Marshal Houston says the search has been difficult in some areas affected by fire.
"When we get into areas where ... there's been fire and the like, the search takes a lot longer, it is a lot more intense and when we're out away from those areas progress is a lot quicker," he said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at the weekend that it would take "at least a week to get the job done".
ABC/wires

Source: http://www.abc.net.au

No comments:

Post a Comment