HRABOVE, Ukraine // A refrigerated train carrying Malaysia Airlines victims’ bodies pulled away on Monday from a rebel-held town in eastern Ukraine – one small step forward in easing the agony of their grieving families.
In an emotional inspection hours earlier, Dutch experts had called for a full forensic sweep of the Flight 17 crash site and told the armed separatists controlling the area that the train must be allowed to leave as soon as possible.
Four days after someone shot the Boeing 777 out of the sky, killing 298 people, pressure was growing on Russian president Vladimir Putin to rein in the insurgents and allow a full-scale investigation into the downing of the plane. The US, Ukraine and others say Moscow has armed the rebels, a charge Russia denies.
Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said earlier that the remains of those onboard the crashed flight will be handed over to the Netherlands.
Mr Najib said he had received assurances from the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Borodai, that the remains of those killed in the crash will be moved by train to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and handed over.
He also added that the two black boxes will be given to a Malaysian team, and that independent international investigators would “be guaranteed safe access” to the crash site to begin their probe.
In Washington, President Barack Obama demanded that international investigators get full access to the crash site and accused the separatists of removing evidence and blocking investigators.
“What exactly are they trying to hide?” Mr Obama asked, a day after the US presented what it called “powerful” evidence that the rebels had shot down the plane with a Russian surface-to-air missile.
At the UN in New York, the Security Council was voting later Monday on an Australia-proposed resolution demanding international access to the crash site and a ceasefire around the area.
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said his country would view a Russian veto of the resolution “very badly” adding that “no reasonable person” could object to its wording.
Fighting flared again between the separatists and government troops in the eastern rebel-held city of Donetsk, just 50 kilometres to the west of the crash site.
City authorities said battles took place Monday near the town’s airport. A witness heard several explosions and saw smoke rising from that direction.
After the train with the bodies left the town of Torez, two military jets also flew overhead and black smoke was seen rising in the distance.
Fighting began in mid-April in eastern Ukraine after Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimean Peninsula a month earlier.
There is great concern in the Netherlands about the bodies, since 192 of the plane’s 298 victims were Dutch and another was Dutch-American.
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday that repatriating the bodies was his top priority.
A witness saw the train with the bodies leaving Torez, a rebel-held town 15 kilometres from the plane crash site, and overheard rebels saying it was heading for the rebel-held town of Ilovaysk. The Ukrainian government later said the train was eventually heading to a crisis centre in the government-controlled eastern city of Kharkiv.
Workers recovered 21 more bodies from the site Monday, bringing the total to 272 bodies, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
At the Torez train station, the Dutch investigators stood for a moment with their heads bowed and their hands clasped before climbing aboard to inspect the train cars, surrounded by armed rebels.
Those present said the smell of decay was overwhelming at the Torez train station and many with the inspectors wore masks or pressed cloths to their faces on the sunny, 29 ºC day.
A Ukrainian train engineer said a power outage had hit the rail cars’ refrigeration system for several hours overnight.
In Kharkiv, another team of international experts arrived, including 23 Dutch, three Australians, two Germans, two Americans, and one person from the UK.
The US evidence that the rebels were involved in downing the plan included video of a rocket launcher, one surface-to-air missile missing, leaving the likely launch site; imagery showing the firing; phone calls claiming credit for the missile strike and phone recordings said to reveal a cover-up at the crash site.
“A buildup of extraordinary circumstantial evidence ... it’s powerful here,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. “Russia is supporting these separatists. Russia is arming these separatists. Russia is training these separatists.”
Mr Putin lashed out against the criticism on Monday, accusing others of exploiting the downing of the plane for “mercenary objectives”.
He said Russia was doing everything possible to allow a team of experts from the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency, to investigate the scene. He again criticised
In Moscow, Russian officials offered evidence on Monday to counter US claims that the rebels were responsible for shooting down the jet. The defence ministry showed photos they said proved that Ukrainian surface-to-air systems were operating in the area before the crash – nine times alone on Thursday, the day the plane was brought down.
The defence ministry officials also insisted that Russia had not given the rebels any surface-to-air missiles and added they have no evidence that any missiles were launched at all. They asked the US to share any satellite images of the launch.
In the Netherlands, victims’ families were being consoled on Monday by the Dutch royals.
* Associated Press, additional reporting from Agence France-Presse