KUALA LUMPUR/KIEV : Rescue workers have so far recovered 181 bodies scattered over a vast area in eastern Ukraine even as pro-Russia rebels today said they have recovered the black boxes from the wreckage of the Malaysian plane blown up by a missile, killing all 298 people on board.
Pro-Russia rebels have claimed to have recovered the black box of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and had announced that they are planning to have it moved to Moscow for examination, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Ukraine Foreign Ministry said 181 bodies have been located which are scattered over a vast stretch of farmland, so far at the crash site.
The ministry cited local emergency workers at the site for the numbers today. It said the bodies will be taken to Kharkiv, a government-controlled city 270 kilometers north of the crash site, for identification.
The Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country have blamed each other for the alleged shooting down of the plane yesterday.
Pro-Russian rebels have agreed to give international investigators access to the crash site and allow the recovery of bodies.
“Rebels in eastern Ukraine will continue fighting in all areas except for the site of the Malaysian plane crash site,” a rebel commander was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti.
The Boeing 777 – carrying 298 people – was en route from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lampur, when it crashed yesterday in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.
The 15-member crew was from Malaysia and included two ethnic Indians, Sanjib Singh Sandhu, 41, and Angeline Premila Rajandran, 30.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused “terrorists” of downing the jet, referring to pro-Russian separatists.
“Terrorists have killed almost 300 persons with one shot,” Poroshenko said. “Among them are women, children, citizens of different countries of the world.
However, Russian defense ministry said it had picked up radar unit activity from a Ukrainian-controlled ‘Buk’ missile system on the day the Malaysian airliner crashed.
The passenger jetliner came down close to the town of
Shaktarsk in Ukraine’s rebellion-wracked region of Donetsk after disappearing from radar screens.
Ukraine has called the disaster an “act of terrorism”, blaming it on Russia who it says has been aiding the rebels in the conflict and supplying them with advanced weapons.
“The Russians are done for. This is an international crime which must be investigated by the international tribunal in The Hague,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
Ukrainian authorities said the plane was “shot down” by pro-Russia rebels using a BUK anti-aircraft missile system while it was cruising at an altitude of 10,000 metres.
US intelligence authorities said a surface-to-air missile downed the plane, but could not say who fired it.
The Russian defence ministry said today that a Ukrainian radar station of surface-to-air missiles was operating on the day the plane crashed.
“On July 17, Russian radio-technical facilities recorded the operation of the Kupol radar station of the Buk-M1 system located near the settlement of Styla (30 kilometres, south of Donetsk),” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak today demanded that perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice.
“This is a tragic day in what has already been a tragic year for Malaysia. The flight’s passengers were from many nations but we are all united in grief.”
“The government of Malaysia is dispatching a special flight to Kiev, carrying a special Malaysia disaster assistance and rescue team, as well as a medical team,” Najib said today.
He said that Ukrainian authorities believed that the plane was shot down by pro-Russia rebels but that Malaysia was unable to verify this at this moment.
“If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice,” he said.
Najib said he had talked to Ukraine President Poroshenko who pledged a thorough investigation into the incident.
The plane was on a scheduled flight to Kuala Lumpur and it had not made a distress call.
The flight manifest of the plane indicated that the MH17 had onboard 173 nationals from Netherlands, 44 Malaysians, 28 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 9 from UK, 4 Germans, 4 from Belgium, 3 from the Philippines, one each from Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong. The nationalities of 18 passengers were still to be verified.
About 100 of those killed in the crash were world- renowned AIDS researchers and activists heading to Australia for a global AIDS conference, reports said.
The World Health Organisation said its spokesman Glenn Thomas was on board the plane heading to Australia to attend the 20th International AIDS conference which starts on Sunday.
Joep Lange, former president of the International AIDS Society and a well-known HIV researcher from the Netherlands, was also among the passengers. (AGENCIES)
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