UKRAINE: Ukrainian rebel leader says 282 bodies collected from airliner crash site

Record ID: 451590

  • Title: UKRAINE: Ukrainian rebel leader says 282 bodies collected from airliner crash site
  • Date: 21st July 2014
  • Summary: DONETSK, UKRAINE (JULY 21, 2014) (REUTERS) PRIME MINISTER OF SELF-PROCLAIMED DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, ALEKSANDER BORODAI, SITTING DOWN FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRIME MINISTER OF SELF-PROCLAIMED DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, ALEKSANDER BORODAI, SAYING: "Today, now, finally three Dutch experts made it to us. These are the aviation security experts. Now, together with the representatives of the OSCE, they are working at the site of the tragedy. So today, we are still waiting on the arrival of the 12 Malaysian experts. CAMERAMAN AND SEPARATIST GUARD (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRIME MINISTER OF SELF-PROCLAIMED DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, ALEKSANDER BORODAI, SAYING: "Today in Torez, there is this refrigerated train. It consists of five carriages in which we have collected and continue to collect the bodies of the people who died. Today there are already 282 bodies in this train." REPORTERS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRIME MINISTER OF SELF-PROCLAIMED DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, ALEKSANDER BORODAI, SAYING: "You probably already know that today our opponent occupied the town of Debaltsevo. The opponents' attacks come from the whole front. I won't tell you about what's happening in Luhansk. Now there are clashes on the outskirts of Donetsk." VARIOUS OF REPORTERS BORODAI LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Disasters
  • Reuters ID: LVABBUWQSVPQUU0O0LZ6ETDWYNPD
  • Story Text: The leader of pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk said Dutch experts arrived at the Malaysia Airlines crash site in eastern Ukraine on Monday (July 21) to join other international specialists and observers. Malaysian experts are expected to arrive at the site later in the day.
    "Today, now, finally three Dutch experts made it to us. These are the aviation security experts. Now, together with the representatives of the OSCE, they are working at the site of the tragedy. So today, we are still waiting on the arrival of the 12 Malaysian experts," Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Aleksander Borodai said at a news conference.
    With Western anger rising at the apparently disrespectful treatment of the bodies by pro-Russian rebels controlling the crash site, 282 bodies of the nearly 300 killed passengers have been collected and put in the refrigerator train in the town of Torez, 15 km (9 miles) away from the crash site.
    "Today in Torez, there is this refrigerated train. It consists of five carriages in which we have collected and continue to collect the bodies of the people who died. Today there are already 282 bodies in this train," Borodai said.
    Although both Kiev and the rebels in the country's east promised safe access to the site for experts, fighting continued in the region.
    "You probably already know that today our opponent occupied the town of Debaltsevo. The opponents' attacks come from the whole front. I won't tell you about what's happening in Luhansk. Now there are clashes on the outskirts of Donetsk," Boodai said.
    The Malaysian airliner was downed near Hrabove village in the Donetsk Region last Thursday (July 17). Ukraine on Sunday accused separatist rebels of hiding evidence that a Russian missile was used to shoot down a Malaysian airliner, while Britain said Moscow faced "pariah" status and the threat of further economic sanctions.
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