196 Bodies Recovered From Malaysia Crash Site
The local department of an emergency ministry in eastern Ukraine said Sunday 196 bodies of the 298 passengers and crew on board the downed Malaysia Airlines flight have been recovered three days after the crash.
It was not immediately clear where the bodies are being stored.
However, Reuters news agency reported Sunday railway workers said bodies from the downed plane are in refrigerated wagons at a train station in the town of Torez, 15 kilometers from the site.
There has been international outrage and concern about the contamination of the crash site before investigators were allowed access, which continues to be limited by pro-Russian rebels in control of the area.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday the crash site is “absolutely chaotic.”
“I summoned the Russian trade minister to a meeting and I made crystal clear my concerns and dissatisfaction with the way this has been handled. Russian-controlled territory, Russian-backed rebels, quite likely a Russian-supplied weapon – Russia can’t wash its hands of this,” he said.
Abbot said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he fears tampering with the evidence will continue because there is “no one in authority on the ground.”
“My fear is that Russia will say the right thing, but that on the ground interference with the site, interference with investigators, interference with the dignified treatment of the bodies will continue. That’s my fear,” he said.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said reports that bodies and debris have been removed from the unsecured site and that evidence has been tampered with is “an affront to all those who lost loved ones and to the dignity the victims deserve.”
Psaki said the European monitors had access to the crash site Saturday for less than three hours and were allowed on the site for only 75 minutes on Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday the United States is “very concerned” about reports that debris and bodies have been taken from the crash site.
The State Department said Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he was concerned that European monitors were not being given proper access to the crash site.
Kerry also again urged Russia to take immediate action to stop the flow of weapons and fighters to pro-Russian separatists in the east.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reports Lavrov agreed that all physical evidence, including the vital black box flight recorders, be made available to investigators.
Evidence so far points to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 being shot down by a missile Thursday over the pro-Russian separatist-controlled Donetsk region.
The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board were killed. Most of them were Dutch citizens.
Ukraine says it has “compelling evidence” pro-Russian rebels used a high-tech missile launcher, and with Russian training to shoot down the plane.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, writing in London’s The Sunday Times newspaper, says if this is the case, it is a direct result of Russia destabilizing a sovereign state and training and arming thuggish militias.
Cameron says too many European countries have been reluctant to face up to what is happening in eastern Ukraine. He writes that the West must change its approach to Russia and make Western power, influence and resources count.
Source: VOA News