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MH17 wreckage to be removed from crash site starting Nov 11 — DPR Emergencies Ministry

First Vice-Premier Andrey Purgin said the wreckage of the Boeing would be removed within one or two weeks

DONETSK, November 10. /TASS/. The wreckage of MH17 will be removed starting on Tuesday, November 11, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Emergencies Ministry said on Monday.

Initially, the wreckage was scheduled to be removed on November 10 in a joint effort with the staff of the Council for Security of the Netherlands and representatives of the Ogranization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). However, “due to the absence of Dutch representatives” the removal has been postponed, the ministry said.

First Vice-Premier Andrey Purgin said the wreckage of the Boeing would be removed within one or two weeks. “The process is being prepared. It is technically complicated. I believe that it will take about two weeks,” he said after a session of the committee of public support for south-eastern Ukraine.

Purgin also said the wreckage would be removed by railways, “more likely through the Zaporochye Region”.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on July 17, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board, including 193 Dutch nationals. So far, 289 victims have been identified.

The Dutch Safety Board, leading the investigation and coordinating the international team of investigators, said in its preliminary report in early September that "flight MH17 with a Boeing 777-200 operated by Malaysia Airlines broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside."