More remains found at Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash site

ANKARA

A team of Dutch investigators have recovered more human remains and personal belongings from the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine, UkraineToday reported Friday.

Dutch and Malaysian investigators resumed Thursday the search for the remains of victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17, about nine months after the plane was downed in eastern Ukraine.

Dutch Justice Minister Ard van der Steur said that efforts were now being shifted to focus more on finding the perpetrators of the shooting, the TV network said.

"Now that we are at an advanced stage of the repatriation mission, the (criminal) investigation and prosecution will occupy a more central place," he was quoted as saying.

The Boeing 777 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed after being shot down on July 17, killing all 298 people on board, two thirds of them Dutch.

The head of the emergency services of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic, Aleksey Kostrubitskiy, told reporters Thursday that a Dutch-led experts team would search the site of the crash for up to three weeks.

Foreign investigators had suspended their operations in the area in November 2014, due to clashes between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists.

Emergency service workers of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic will also help the investigators, Kostrubitskiy said, adding that the remains of two victims had not yet been found.

He added that Dutch authorities were planning to build a memorial for the victims after the search.

Nationals of the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand were among the 298 passengers and crew on board.

Days after the Malaysia Airline tragedy last year, Ukraine and the U.S. accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the plane, a claim Moscow rejected.