MH17 update: All bodies removed from main crash site
Bodies of the victims from doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 have been removed from the main crash site near the settlement of Grabove, according to AFP.
An on-scene reporter from the news agency reported that the collected remains at the site had been removed along with poles marking the location of where the bodies were found.
The local department of Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry in the eastern Donetsk region said that 196 bodies had been located.
Sergei Kavtaradze, senior official of the pro-Russian rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told Reuters that the bodies that had been found were loaded onto refrigerated rail wagons in the eastern Donetsk town of Torez.
Mounting pressure
Pressure has been mounting on Russia to act after the United States claimed that Moscow had given Ukrainian rebels the surface-to-air missile launchers that shot down MH17.
The Washington Post have also said that Ukraine's counterintelligence services were in possession of photographs showing that three Buk M-1 antiaircraft missile systems were shifted from rebel-held territory into Russia less than 12 hours after the passenger jet was brought down.
To compound the tragedy even further, pro-Russian insurgents are refusing to grant full access to the crash site to international monitors unless Kiev agrees to a truce.
Sources: AFP, Reuters
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