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DUTCH Prime Minister Mark Rutte expressed his hope today that the first planeload of bodies from the downed Malaysia Airlines flight could arrive in the Netherlands tomorrow.
“It is our aim — and at the moment our expectation — that sometime tomorrow the first plane carrying victims will leave for Eindhoven,” he said.
Mr Rutte said that the identification of some bodies will be quick, but he warned grieving families of victims of last Thursday’s crash that the identification of some others could take “weeks or even months.”
The refrigerated train carrying the bodies pulled into a station in government-controlled Kharkiv yesterday, after a 17-hour journey from the town of Torez in rebel-held territory.
Ukrainian authorities have set up their crash investigation centre in Kharkiv.
The train had stopped overnight in the city of Donetsk, which is under artillery fire by Kiev forces, but it left at 3am.
Government spokesman Oleksander Kharchenko said that Ukraine “will do our best” to send the bodies to the Netherlands without delay.
Of the 298 people who died aboard the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight, 193 were Dutch citizens.
As the train made its way to Kharkiv, the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic Prime Minister Alexander Borodai handed over two black box flight recorders to a Malaysian aviation official.
Malaysia Airlines officials, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers and rebel militia members visited the crash site near Grabove.
OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw commented: “Now, one would think, is the time for experts to come in and have a very intensive look at the area.”
