BBC Online :
Work has begun to remove wreckage from the MH17 crash site in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, Dutch officials say.
The Malaysian Airlines plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine in July. All 298 people on board were killed.
Debris will be transported to the Netherlands for investigation, the Dutch Safety Board said.
Access to the site has previously been limited by the rebels, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The recovery operation was expected to take several days, the Dutch Safety Board said.
The wreckage would assist “the investigation into the cause of the crash”, it said in a statement, adding that it intended to reconstruct a section of the aircraft.
Workers from the emergency ministry of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic were seen cutting pieces of the plane’s wreckage with metal saws, the AFP news agency reported.
A majority of those who died in the disaster were from the Netherlands and the Dutch government has taken the lead in the investigation.
Dutch experts had arrived at the crash site, near the village of Grabove, early on Tuesday, but were unable to begin salvage efforts because no deal had been reached with local rebel groups.
Work has begun to remove wreckage from the MH17 crash site in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, Dutch officials say.
The Malaysian Airlines plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine in July. All 298 people on board were killed.
Debris will be transported to the Netherlands for investigation, the Dutch Safety Board said.
Access to the site has previously been limited by the rebels, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The recovery operation was expected to take several days, the Dutch Safety Board said.
The wreckage would assist “the investigation into the cause of the crash”, it said in a statement, adding that it intended to reconstruct a section of the aircraft.
Workers from the emergency ministry of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic were seen cutting pieces of the plane’s wreckage with metal saws, the AFP news agency reported.
A majority of those who died in the disaster were from the Netherlands and the Dutch government has taken the lead in the investigation.
Dutch experts had arrived at the crash site, near the village of Grabove, early on Tuesday, but were unable to begin salvage efforts because no deal had been reached with local rebel groups.
