Only 62 bodies in complete state

KUALA LUMPUR: Only 62 of the 226 bodies of MH17 that was recovered from the crash site in Ukraine were in "good and complete state".
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said today authorities believed there are more mangled remains and body parts scattered over an area of 15 sq km surrounding the crash site at Donetsk that are yet to be retrieved.
He said it was unfortunate that search efforts for the rest of the bodies was hampered by security and safety issues.
"There is still a lot of work to be done. We are really hoping to reach the crash site and get help from the local villagers to locate the whereabouts of these missing bodies and body parts," said Khalid who is in Kiev to oversee and head a Malaysian team of investigators.
He said although he was confident with the experts tasked to investigate the crash, the probe was a tedious process and its completion was indefinite.
"We regret we are unable to get to the site and this delay could flaw evidence-gathering. We do not have a choice as every country has its own set of laws and we have to adhere to it. However, we should get there as soon as possible to collect whatever bits and pieces of evidence that remain at the site for the probe," he said.
Meanwhile, AFP reported that international experts with sniffer dogs yesterday recovered the remains of more victims from the downed MH17 flight in eastern Ukraine although shelling has limited access to some parts of the vast crash site.
Seventy Dutch and Australian police investigators spent the second day of their operation scouring more of the wreckage strewn over some 20 sq km, after managing to screen only a tiny patch the previous day.
"Today, because they had more time, the experts were able to comb through a bigger area," Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Dutch police mission said.
"They again found human remains and personal belongings."
But while work continued undisturbed for the bulk of the experts, mortar fire forced a small team of investigators to hurriedly leave a village where more debris lay.
"We heard artillery fire coming from a distance of approximately 2km and that was too close for us to continue (with our operation)," said Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Ukraine.
Government troops and pro-Moscow separatists battling across the war-torn region had pledged to halt fighting around the rebel-held site, where the plane was shot down over two weeks ago killing all 298 people on board.