A refrigerated train carrying the remains of the Australian victims of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 has left a rebel-controlled town in eastern Ukraine bound for the county's second biggest city where it will be met by senior Australian officials.
The bodies are then to be flown almost immediately to the Netherlands where an international team, including forensic experts from Australia, will identify the dead.
Up to 39 Australian citizens and residents were killed when MH17 was downed likely by a missile fired by Russian-backed separatists.
Ukraine's deputy prime minister on Monday said 282 bodies and 87 fragments of another 16 bodies had been found.
Volodymyr Groysman told reporters all 298 deceased passengers had been loaded onto a refrigerated train which left the rebel village of Torez at 7pm local time bound for government-controlled Kharkiv.
Mr Groysman confirmed the bodies would be transferred to the Netherlands where they could be identified in "the best laboratories in the world".
Three Dutch experts are accompanying the bodies on the train which is expected to take around six hours to reach Ukraine's second biggest city.
However, intense fighting could cause delays as there's been damage to infrastructure.
The train is also under the control of rebels - not the international community.
When the train does reach Kharkiv the bodies will undergo security scans and be transferred to a Dutch military aircraft.
That process will be observed by Australia's ambassador to Ukraine, Jean Dunn, and a defence attache from London.
Two other Australian consular officials are then expected to travel on the Dutch C130 Hercules to Amsterdam.
The plane will be greeted there by Australia's ambassador to the Netherlands, Neil Mules, and a defence attache from The Hague.
In Holland, forensic experts from Australia will assist in the identification process. A number are already on the ground while many more are understood to be en route.
The identification process will likely involve using both DNA and dental records.
Canberra is hoping for a "speedy turnaround" with the Australian victims being repatriated on a RAAF aircraft.
While Dutch experts visited the crash site on Monday with European observers, the rebels wouldn't allow other international officials into the area.
Mr Groysman said Ukraine had passed responsibility for the crash investigation - as well as the identification work - to an international team that would again be spearheaded by the Dutch and include Australian specialists.
"The world has to know who is responsible for this aircraft being shot down," the deputy PM said through a translator in Kiev.
AAP understands Prime Minister Tony Abbott's special envoy in Ukraine, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, meet with the Ukrainian president shortly before the train left Torez.
He's also held discussions with OSCE chief monitor Ertugrul Apakan regarding when Australian experts may be able to access the crash site.
The Australian recovery team includes 20 foreign affairs officials, 20 federal police officers and two Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators who are due into Kiev on Tuesday.
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