07/21/2014, 00.00
UKRAINE - RUSSIA
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As more accusations are levelled against Russia, 247 bodies are recovered from downed MH17 flight

Bodies have been loaded onto refrigerated train cars in Torez. Malaysian and Dutch experts have only been allowed at the crash site today after days of looting. Only military experts can operate ground-to-air missiles.

Kyiv (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The bodies of 247 victims of Flight MH17, shot down last Thursday, have been recovered and moved to refrigerated train cars at Torez, a town held by pro-Russian separatists, a few kilometers from the site of disaster. Meanwhile, in the international community more and more voices are accusing Russia of being responsible for the act.

It is almost certain that the Malaysia Airlines plane was downed by a ground-to-air missile launched from the area where separatist and Ukrainian forces are fighting.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said that his country's armed forces have not fired any missiles, and that the people who used the system may have "come from Russia."

Military sources close to NATO say that operating this kind of missile system requires long training and it is impossible for the rebels to learn how to use it in a few months. This means that Russian technical or military staff are behind it.

Even US Secretary of State John Kerry said "There is a build-up of extraordinary circumstantial evidence" concerning Russian responsibilities in the incident.

Meanwhile, near Hrabove, where the pieces of the plane wreckage have been collected and the bodies laid, riot control police are preventing thefts, looting and tampering, as occurred in the past few days.

The rebels have recovered the black boxes, which should be delivered to the international air transport authorities.

Since no ceasefire has been implemented as of the day of the disaster, Malaysian and Dutch experts have had to wait until today for safe and full access to the site.

The Malaysia Airlines plane was carrying 298 people on board, mostly Dutch nationals, from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. No one survived.

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