More MH17 remains discovered

A resumed search at the crash site of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 has uncovered more human remains and personal belongings.

More human remains and personal belongings have been recovered from the site of downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 after Dutch investigators gained access to sites that were previously too dangerous to search.

Pieter-Jan Aalbersberg, head of the recovery team, said the work focused on three sites that had previously been inaccessible because of fighting in the region between Russian-backed separatists and government forces.

In addition to the human remains found by the team, "there was also personal property from the passengers handed over by local residents," including jewellery.

All 298 passengers and crew aboard the plane died - the majority of them Dutch.

Among those killed were 38 Australian citizens and residents.

Work is expected to continue at the new sites for several more weeks, assuming the security situation remains stable. Even then it remains dangerous, as land mines have reportedly been spread in the area.

Western officials have blamed the July 17, 2014, crash of MH17, which was headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, on a rocket fired by the separatists, who have been waging an armed campaign for almost a year to break the eastern part of the country away from Ukraine.

The separatists dispute this account.

Two victims have still not been identified.


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