On top of Malaysian officials and international investigators facing difficulties in getting safe passage to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, reports are surfacing that looters are scouring the debris of the downed aircraft near Grabovo, eastern Ukraine, and that separatist rebels in control of the area have greeted outsiders in an “intoxicated and aggressive” manner.
The Atlantic Wire reports that the MH17 crash site, which was allegedly shot down by a ground-to-air missile last Thursday night, was being overrun by armed separatist rebels and local citizens looting and pilfering the belongings of the jetliner’s 298 deceased passengers.
Suitcases have been removed from the wreckage and pillaged, with mobile phones, jewellery, wallets and credit cards among the most popular items to steal. A photojournalist at the scene is quoted as saying, “There isn’t a single cellphone, wallet with money or camera to be found in any handbag or on the bodies. It’s like they all mysteriously disappeared overnight.”
In a related incident, international monitors sent by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have noted that separatist rebels in control of the MH17 crash site were “intoxicated and aggressive”.
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) team was sent to Hrabove, east of Donetsk in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine, after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over the area last Thursday.
The SMM said it was given limited access to the crash site, and were able to observe bodies at the crash site.
Although the bodies were marked, the SMM said they were “exposed to the elements”, according to a report by The Rakyat Post.
Investigations into the crash were further hampered by continued fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions between rebel and Ukrainian government forces.
“While patrolling the city centre of Luhansk, close to the occupied building of the Regional Administration, SMM members heard the sound of a shell hitting a garage,” the statement read.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed late Thursday night over eastern Ukraine, with debris landing near the town of Grabovo. The Boeing 777 jetliner was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members. There were no survivors.
See Also:
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Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky / Associated Press
