MH17: Sorting out bodies, remains

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May contain more than one human remans ... Dutch military personnel carry a coffin containing remains of the victims of the MH17 plane crash to a waiting hearse at the air base in Eindhoven. Source: AFP

A TEAM of emotionally drained forensic experts from seven nations is preparing to depart the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv after completing the first traumatic stage of sorting bodies and human remains from MH17.

Ester Naber, from the Netherlands' National Team of Forensic Experts, or LTBO, said the final shipment of 38 coffins would leave Kharkov for Amsterdam during the Australian afternoon, bringing a total of 227 coffins that have left the Ukraine over four days.

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Ms Naber said the number of coffins was not representative of the number of bodies that had been found.

"It is graphic, but the reality unfortunately is there are a lot of coffins with one body in one coffin, but there are others with only human remains," she said.

Some of the coffins held several body bags containing body parts. "Theoretically, one bag with human remains could be several people. We will not know until we have finished the identification process (in the Netherlands)."

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"It is graphic, but the reality unfortunately is there are a lot of coffins with one body" ... Investigators work at a the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), some 80km east of Donetsk. Source: AFP

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The bodies and remains were removed in shambolic fashion from the crash site by separatists and volunteers and put on a train with four coldroom carriages in the nearby conflict city of Donetsk before being taken north to Kharkiv.

Since Wednesday, a forensic team of Dutch, British, Malaysian, American, German, Swiss and seven Australians has been emptying each carriage in turn and taking them to a factory in a deserted industrial complex on the outskirts of the city.

Ms Naber said the investigators did not open any of the body bags but scanned and tested them for explosives, metal objects, dangerous chemicals, gasses and radioactive substances in preparation for flight to Amsterdam.

Once declared free of hazards, the old bags were then placed inside new body bags, sealed inside coffins and taken to Kharkiv airport.

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Each day, a Dutch Hercules has departed Kharkiv at midday and a faster Australian C17 has left at 1.30pm, with both planes landing in synch in Amsterdam to be met by families and dignitaries.

Ms Naber said none of the disaster victim identification experts in Khakiv wanted to talk about the experience of handling the bodies, but most were professionals who had been in places such as Aceh for the Boxing Day tsunami.

She said normally the forensic identification process would be conducted close to the scene of any disaster.

In this case, the atrocious manner in which the bodies were gathered from the scene denied investigators access to potentially important situational forensic information.

Trying to establish identity ... Dutch military personnel carry coffins containing the remains of the victims of the MH17 plane crash to waiting hearses at the air base in Eindhoven. Source: AFP

With such valuable information lost it was decided it was best to get the bodies out of Ukraine to Holland where they could be identified in a sober environment.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her Dutch counterpart Frans Timmerman said in Kiev on Thursday that an agreement had been reached with the Ukraine for the next stage, which is for a large team of forensic investigators to enter the crash zone.

However, Dutch sources in Kharkiv said they were not anticipating their immediate arrival.

It was said the legal agreement was still being worked on and the crash site — while being probed by a handful of investigators — remained hostile and insecure and was not yet ready for the full investigative team.

This was confirmed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott's special envoy in Ukraine, retired Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston, who a short time ago issued a downbeat statement saying he hoped the Ukraine could ratify the agreement

so that foreign investigators could get to the site.

Ukraine's government has fallen apart after minority parties withdrew from the ruling coalition, meaning the government is in caretaker mode and potentially facing an election.

This has left the Dutch and Australians who wish to urgently secure the site battling to find authoritative people in Ukraine to deal with the MH17 crisis.

Mr Houston said Australian officials were in close contact with acting Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had assured Australia that ratifying the arrangement to get forensic experts to the site was a priority.

But the real priority of Ukraine is moving on the rebels who control the eastern part of their country.

The second team's work — if and when they finally arrive — may involve the discovery of more bodies or body parts and they will attempt to gather any personal belongings that have not been looted.

But their main purpose was to examine the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines 777 and to make a definitive finding on whether the plane was destroyed by a missile.

"The team that's been here is going home," said Ms Naber. "It's been hard work, it's very important work. Just the thought it's people in those bags, it's heartbreaking."

Innocent lives lost ... Religious leads of different faith, left to right, Hindu, Christianity, Muslim and Sikh, during a multi-faith prayers for the victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 at Malaysia Airlines Academy in Kelana Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur. Source: News Corp Australia

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