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BOEING 777 CRASH IN DONBASS

Experts return to Holland after search operation at Boeing crash site in Ukraine

THE HAGUE, August 08, /ITAR-TASS/. International experts from the fact-finding mission at the crash site of a Malaysian Boeing in eastern Ukraine have returned to the Netherlands.

One hundred and thirty-five experts from Australia, Malaysia and the Netherlands arrived in Eindhoven on Friday by two transport planes of the Dutch and Australian air forces. They took part in a search operation to retrieve human remains and personal belongings at the Malaysian MH17 crash site in Ukraine’s Donetsk region but had to cut short their mission due to security considerations.

In all, the mission worked for a week although it had been initially planned that it would stay there for at least a month to thoroughly comb the crash area.

Currently, a small group of experts is staying in Kharkov who are tasked to take efforts to have the search operation be resumed as soon as the security situation improves.

Earlier, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte pledged the search operation would be resumed as soon as possible.

A Boeing-777 of the Malaysia Airlines (flight MH17) en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Region 60 km from the Russian border, in the zone of combat operation between the Donetsk self-defence forces and the Ukrainian army. All the passengers and crewmembers onboard the plane - 298 people - died. Most of the passengers - 196 people - were Dutch citizens.

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