Dutch receive corpses
Two Ukrainian fighter jets shot down over rebel-held territory
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — Victims of the Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine returned at last Wednesday to Dutch soil in 40 wooden coffins, solemnly and gently carried to 40 identical hearses, flags at half-staff flapping in the wind.
The carefully choreographed, nearly silent ceremony contrasted sharply with the boom of shells and shattered glass around eastern Ukraine as pro-Russian rebels fought Wednesday to hang onto territory — and shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets.
The corpses that arrived in Eindhoven are still unidentified. But they were embraced by a nation unmoored by the loss of so many people caught in a far-off war.
Boys going to visit their grandparents, a flight attendant hurrying home and a bouncer heading to see his sweetheart were among the 298 victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The downing of the jet last week has intensified anger at the pro-Russian rebels suspected of bringing the plane down.
Nearly a week later, international investigators still lack unfettered access to the area. Some remains are unrecovered, and armed men roam, defying their government.
Investigators in a lab in southern England began studying the plane’s black box recorders Wednesday searching for clues to what happened. The Dutch Safety Board, which has taken control of the investigation, said the voice recorder was damaged but showed no sign of manipulation, and its recordings were intact. Specialists will start studying the flight data recorder today.
Passengers’ families grieved anew as the corpses started arriving in the Netherlands, the country that bore the heaviest death toll in the crash.
The families had spent days agonizing in wait while body parts decayed in sweltering Ukrainian fields before being gradually shifted by truck, train and plane to the Netherlands.
“If I have to wait five months for identification, I can do it,” said Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son, Bryce, and his girlfriend Daisy Oehlers died in the crash. “Waiting while the bodies were in the field and in the train was a nightmare.”
On a day of national mourning, flags flew at half-staff on Dutch government buildings and family homes around this nation of 17 million.
Church bells rang out around the country as the planes taxied to a standstill. King Willem-Alexander clasped the hand of his wife, Queen Maxima, and watched teams carry coffins from the planes to waiting hearses.
Almost the only sounds came from stomping boots and flapping flags.
Then as the last hearses drove away, applause briefly broke out.
From the airport, they were driven under military police escort to the central city of Hilversum where forensic experts were waiting at a military barracks to identify the remains. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says many bodies could be identified quickly and returned to their loved ones, but some families may have to wait weeks for a positive identification.
The rebels, undeterred, fought Wednesday to keep territory in eastern Ukraine and said they attacked two Ukrainian Air Force jets in the same area where the passenger plane fell.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the Su25s were shot about 20 miles south of the Malaysian jet’s wreckage. The separatist group Donetsk People’s Republic said on its website that one pilot was killed and rebel fighters were seeking the other.
The attack revived questions about the rebels’ weapons capabilities — and how much support and training they are get- ting from Russia. The U.S. accuses Russia of backing the separatists and fueling Ukraine’s conflict.
Although the insurgents deny having missiles capable of hitting a jetliner at cruising altitude, rebel leader Alexander Borodai has said that separatist fighters do have Strela-10M ground-to-air missiles, which are capable of hitting targets up to an altitude of 11,500 feet. They have shoulder-fired missiles with a smaller range.
The rebels also say they shot down an Antonov-26 last week with a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile. The Ukrainian government is hinting that the Antonov was flying too high for the rebels to hit it, suggesting Russian involvement.
Rebel leader Pavel Gubarev wrote on his Facebook page that 30 rebels were injured and his men retreated Wednesday from the villages of Chervona Zorya and Kozhevnya, on the Russian border about 30 miles from where the Malaysia Airlines plane fell.
The battles are complicating the investigation into the passenger jet crash.
Ukraine and Western nations are pressing the pro-Russian rebels who control the crash site to allow an unfettered investigation, something Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would use his influence to achieve. Though confident that a missile brought down the passenger jet, U.S. officials say Russia’s role remains unclear. Russia denies involvement.