Ukraine government, rebels agree on removing bodies from crash site
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Moscow/Kiev - The Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists Sunday reached a preliminary agreement on removing bodies from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman confirmed that the victims' remains would be stored in refrigerated railway coaches.
They are to be taken to a laboratory in Kharkiv, more than 250 kilometres north of the crash site and far from rebel-held territory.
He said there were about 900 insurgents around the site near the village of Grabovo where the United States says MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 777-200 bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.
Ukrainian emergency services said they had recovered 196 of the 298 bodies so far, but a spokesman said the search operations were under surveillance and impeded by armed separatists.
DPA
