Train carrying MH17 bodies arrives in Kharkiv

A member of Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry and a crane operator work at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the village of Hrabove, in the Donetsk region, on July 20, 2014. Picture: Maxim Zmeyev

A member of Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry and a crane operator work at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the village of Hrabove, in the Donetsk region, on July 20, 2014. Picture: Maxim Zmeyev

Published Jul 22, 2014

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Kharkiv, Ukraine - A train carrying the remains of victims of a Malaysian plane downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine arrived in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv, a Reuters witness said on Tuesday.

The train, which includes five grey refrigerated carriages, slowly rolled into the grounds of an arms industry plant in Kharkiv where the remains are due to be unloaded and then flown to the Netherlands.

A spokeswoman for a Dutch team of forensic experts on site in Kharkiv said this was not expected to happen before Wednesday.

Almost 300 people were killed when the Malaysian airliner went down on Thursday. Most of them were Dutch.

Earlier on Tuesday in Ukraine's city of Donetsk, 300km south-east of Kharkiv, the separatists handed two black boxes from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane over to Malaysian experts.

Fighting flared up in Donetsk again on Monday around the city's train station and the sound of loud explosions from the site continued overnight and on Tuesday morning.

Windows in many nearby residential blocks were smashed and at least two buildings were hit by shelling with local residents quoting civilian casualties among their neighbours.

Donetsk, which had about one million citizens before many fled during the weeks of fighting, is now the rebels main stronghold in eastern Ukraine. - Reuters

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