Investigators reach Ukraine crash site

Flowers are placed on a plane engine at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines jet near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine.

An international team of investigators in eastern Ukraine on Thursday reached the crash site of the Malaysia Airline Flight 17 for the first time.

Fighting along the route to the wreckage site between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels had for several days kept the delegation from reaching the area.

An

AP journalist at the scene on Thursday said it appeared to be under the control of separatist rebel fighters.

Police and forensic experts from the Netherlands and Australia are expected to initially focus their efforts on retrieving bodies still on the site and collect victims’ belongings.

It remains unclear exactly how many bodies remain and what condition they are in after being exposed for so long to the elements.

A delegation from Russia’s state aviation body said on Thursday it also hoped to visit the site, an agency spokesman said.

Sergei Izvolsky told TheAP that a delegation of Russian specialists from Rosaviatsiya was due in Kiev Thursday to participate in the investigation.

Representatives of the Dutch and Ukrainian commissions would not comment on the arrival of Russian officials. Continuing fighting has hindered access to the crash site, located in rebel-controlled territory in east Ukraine.