Ukraine’s Donetsk emergencies ministry says found 196 bodies at MH17 crash site
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- Ukraine’s Donetsk emergencies ministry says found 196 bodies at MH17 crash site
The local department of Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry in the eastern Donetsk region said today 196 bodies had been found at the site where the Malaysian airliner crashed.
"As of 7 A.M. on July 20, in the Shakhtarsky region of the crash site of the Boeing 777, 196 bodies were found," it said in a statement, adding that divers were involved in the search because the area included a reservoir.
HRABOVE (UKRAINE): International monitors and Ukrainian officials say armed rebels forced emergency workers to hand over all 196 bodies recovered from the Malaysia Airlines crash site and have loaded them onto refrigerated trains.
Iryna Gudyma, a spokeswoman for monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said some of the bodies were put on trains at Torez, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the crash site.
Russian news agencies said the bodies were heading to the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. Ukrainian officials say they expect to have the bodies eventually delivered to government-held city of Kharkiv, but it's unclear if the rebels will agree to do so
Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, talks to a Russia-backed separatist commander during a visit to MH17 flight crash site in the village of Grabovo, east Ukraine. Photograph: Petr Shelomovskiy/Demotix/Corbis
Iryna Gudyma, a spokeswoman for monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said some of the bodies were put on trains at Torez, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the crash site.
Russian news agencies said the bodies were heading to the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. Ukrainian officials say they expect to have the bodies eventually delivered to government-held city of Kharkiv, but it's unclear if the rebels will agree to do so
The bodies of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 are being loaded on to three railway carriages, apparently with refrigerator capability, which are standing at the train station in the town of Torez, several miles from the crash site in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
The Guardian witnessed the arrival of a delegation from the international monitoring body the Organisation for Security and Cooperation inEurope (OSCE) at around midday local time to inspect the wagons, accompanied by a convoy of heavily armed and nervous rebels.
As they opened the metal door to one of the carriages to inspect the interior, a stench of death wafted out, and black body bags were visible inside.
"The special monitoring mission in its third day dealing with the incident has now monitored the location where bodies are being refrigerated in three wagons," said Alexander Hug, the deputy chief of the mission.
"We have not been able to count them as that would be too difficult in this situation."
Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, talks to a Russia-backed separatist commander during a visit to MH17 flight crash site in the village of Grabovo, east Ukraine. Photograph: Petr Shelomovskiy/Demotix/Corbis
Michael Bociurkiw, the spokesman for the mission, added: "Going inside the wagons is impossible without special equipment. The stench is very, very bad."
The OSCE, which has had its access to the crash site itself limited in recent days, left in a convoy to return to the crash site.
There have been no international investigators at the scene. Ukrainian authorities say they are setting up facilities for relatives to stay and autopsies in the city of Kharkiv, about 200 miles away.
Armed separatists at the scene refused to say how many bodies were in the train carriages or when they would leave. The train driver told the Guardian he had no idea of the train's destination.
The local department of Ukraine's emergencies ministry in the eastern Donetsk region said on Sunday that 196 bodies had been found at the site where the Malaysian airliner crashed.
