Ukraine and Russia Agree on 7-Mile Security Zone Around Crash Site For Orderly Retrieval of Bodies
Staff Reporter | | Jul 20, 2014 09:52 AM EDT |
(Photo : Reuters) Armed pro-Russian militants look at part of the wreckage of MH flight 17. The separatist rebels are in control of the crash site, prompting various governments to call on Russian to use its influence and grant independent investigators full access.
Ukraine and Russia have agreed on a 7-mile security zone around the MH 17 crash site to allow the orderly retrieval of the bodies of the 298 people who perished when the plane was shot down.
Reports of looting, desecration of the bodies, and tampering of evidence in the crash site reportedly being committed by the rebels have angered the families of the victims as well as the top government officials of the respective nations whose citizens were aboard the plane.
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Malaysia Airlines officials issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the conditions happening in the crash site.
The United States and Russia reportedly have agreed Saturday that all evidence must be preserved and turned over to independent, international investigators.
US State Secretary John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have spoken over the phone and, after exchanging arguments and assessments, have agreed to an impartial, independent, and open international investigation of the Malaysian plane crash.
The two officials also agreed that the International Civil Aviation Organization should lead the investigation, according to a statement from the Russian foreign ministry.
Lavrov and Kerry likewise agreed that Russia should create the conditions on the ground necessary to allow the international investigating team to have access to the site.
Kerry emphasized that all evidence, including the flight data recorders, should be made available immediately to the investigating team.
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans reportedly was furious after hearing that the bodies are being dragged around the crash site and that the area was not being treated properly.
The Foreign Minister has spoken with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, informing him that Netherlands is "angry and furious" and demanded to know who shot down the airliner.
More than half of the passengers of the ill-fated MH 17 were Dutch nationals.
Timmermans said that once the evidence is out, they will do everything in their power to bring the perpetrators to justice. He said that includes the people who planned and orchestrated the attack.
Malaysia Airlines MH 17 was en route from the Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur, carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members, when it was shot down over war-torn Ukraine.Investigators said a surface-to-air missile was launched, shooting down the plane and instantly killing all 298 people.
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