DONETSK, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – All allegations saying that only 200 out of 282 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash victims’ bodies have been delivered from Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to Kharkiv are “lies and provocation,” Serhiy Kavtaradze, a member of the DPR Security Council, said Wednesday.
“There is an interstate act, signed by the DPR, Malaysian government and Dutch forensic experts. According to the document, there were 282 bags with bodies and 87 bags with body parts on the train. Any other [reports] are lies and some kind of revenge against the DPR,” Kavtaradze said.
On Tuesday, head of the Dutch forensics team in Ukraine confirmed only 200 bodies had arrived by train in the eastern city of Kharkiv, after being moved from the plane's crash site.
The Malaysia Airlines plane with 298 people on board, including 85 children, was downed on July 17 near the town of Torez in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Region. There were no survivors. Many of the victims were Dutch and the Netherlands will carry out their identification. The first plane with the remains of victims is due to arrive in Amsterdam later on Wednesday, which was declared a day of national mourning by the Dutch government.
The Ukrainian government and militia have been trading blame for the alleged downing of the airliner, with independence supporters saying they lacked the technology to shoot down a target flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet.
Russia believes the investigation should be carried out by an international group of specialists under the aegis of ICAO.
