Dutch Investigators to Return to MH17 Crash Site
Team hopes to reach areas previously out of reach because of fighting
By ROBERT WALL
March 20, 2015 6:43 a.m. ET
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LONDON—The Netherlands has dispatched a 12-person team of military, police and safety experts to the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 went down in eastern Ukraine last year to prepare the further repatriation of remains and other items.
The team arrived in Ukraine today and is next expected to make its way to the crash zone, including an area that was inaccessible last year because of fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces, a spokesman for the Dutch government said. The group will make preparations for a return visit in April to gather clues into why the aircraft went down as well as retrieve also belongings of victims.
The Boeing 777 was brought down on July 17 while flying at 33,000 feet from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing 298 passengers and crew aboard, including 193 Dutch citizens. Ukraine and the U.S. accuse rebels of shooting down the plane with an advanced antiaircraft missile, a charge Moscow denies.
The Dutch Safety Board, which leads the crash probe, is expected to issue a final report in October. An interim report last year said the plane jetliner was brought down after being struck by “high-energy objects.” Dutch prosecutors also are gathering evidence to support criminal charges.
The Dutch team will that is due to remain in Ukraine until March 28 is posed to visit the area of Petropavlivka that couldn’t be reached last year because of heavy fighting. The group will retrieve items from the crash that have since been collected locally to support the criminal and safety probes.
The duration of the return mission in April and the size of the team will be completed once the group now in Ukraine has completed its assessment, the Dutch government spokesman said.
Local weather and security conditions could impact the team’s progress, the Dutch government said. It is working with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe officials that have had a special monitoring mission in place for a year.
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