MH17 crash: Dutch experts cancel Ukraine crash site trip

BBC NEWS

Dutch experts have cancelled plans to head to the site of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, OSCE officials say.

Fighting between pro-Russia separatists and government troops in the area has prevented access to the site, they add.

Earlier, Malaysia said it had struck a deal with the rebels to allow international police at the site.

MH17 crashed on 17 July, killing all 298 people on board. The rebels have been accused of shooting it down.

Russia has suggested the plane could have been shot down by the Ukrainian military - an allegation Ukraine denies.

'Unacceptable risk'

Investigators have struggled to gain access to the rebel-controlled crash site, despite a truce between Ukrainian troops and separatist forces.

"There is fighting going on. We can't take the risk," AFP quotes the deputy chief monitor of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's special mission in Ukraine as saying.

Friends and family paid their respects at a tribute service in Melbourne for Australian victims Liam and Frankie Davison

"The security situation on the way to the site and on the site itself is unacceptable for our unarmed observer mission," he adds.

It comes amid reported shelling close to the MH17 crash site, near the town of Grabove, on Sunday.

The Dutch authorities say the first of the 298 people killed in the MH17 disaster has been identified, without revealing any details.

A total of 227 coffins containing the remains of the victims have been sent for identification to the Netherlands, which is leading the crash investigation.

Officials say the exact number of bodies already collected will be determined only after forensic experts have completed their examination.

Rebels have prevented journalists going to the crash site and Ukrainian government forces are said to be nearby, says the BBC's Tom Burridge, in eastern Ukraine.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed in a statement on Sunday that he had reached an agreement with Ukrainian separatist leader Aleksander Borodai to allow international police access to the site in order to "provide protection for international crash investigators".

There are fears vital evidence will be lost as the scene of the crash is disturbed by separatists and locals

The victims' remains have been taken to the Dutch town of Hilversum for identification

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that Australian police officers would be deployed "as part of an unarmed, Dutch-led international humanitarian mission", AP reports.

The use of unarmed officers removes the need for the Ukrainian parliament to approve the deployment of an international police force to the country, he added.

"Our objective is to get in, get cracking and to get out... This is a risky mission, no doubt about that," the prime minister said.

The US says it believes rebels shot down the passenger jet with a Russian-provided SA-11 Buk surface-to-air missile, probably by mistake.

Russia has frequently denied sending heavy weapons into Ukraine but rebel leaders have given conflicting accounts of whether they had control of a Buk launcher at the time the plane was downed.

In a new development, Russia says it has set up its own team of experts to investigate the plane crash, according to RIA Novosti agency.

Malaysia Airlines commercial director Hugh Dunleavy has called for the formation of "one body to be the arbiter of where we can fly" in the wake of the MH17 disaster.