Boeing flight recorders to be handed over to international experts

World July 21, 2014, 17:29

The train of refrigerator cars would leave for a site where specialists would do their work, the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic says

DONETSK, July 21./ITAR-TASS/. The bodies of plane crash victims and the flight recorders (black boxes) were kept safe and would be handed over to international experts, the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai, told a briefing on Monday.

Most of the bodies were gathered and put into refrigerator cars at the station of Torez, the Donetsk region. "The cars are not leaving for anywhere yet. They, as well as the objects, which probably are the "black boxes", will be handed over to foreign experts, but not to the Ukrainian side. We cannot hand over evidence pieces to our enemy not interested in an objective investigation into the tragedy," Borodai added.

The head of the group of experts from the Netherlands, who had arrived at the crash site, told reporters on Monday that a train with bodies of plane crash victims would leave the city of Torez, the Donetsk region, later on Monday, July 21.

The train of refrigerator cars would leave for a site where specialists would do their work, he said.

However, neither exact time nor destination were known. The expert said he was told the train would leave in any case.

Earlier, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters an agreement was reached that the Netherlands would coordinate the work to identify victims in Ukraine.

All the efforts were focused on sending the train to the territory controlled by Ukrainian authorities, he said, adding experts could begin the identification process only after that.

A special group of medics, police and psychologists has begun working in the Netherlands to gather DNA samples from relatives. Specialists also gather information about scars, tattoos and other signs that may help in the identification.

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