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Ukraine says search operation at MH17 crash site ends

Xinhua, May 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Zubko said Friday that the team of international experts has finished its search and recovery operation at the site in eastern Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed last July.

"The International Commission to investigate the disaster had completed the search operation," Zubko was quoted by the government's press service as saying.

The investigation team has found remains of 297 bodies of victims and 295 of them were identified and transported to the Netherlands, Zubko said.

Although the search and recovery operation at the site finished, the aviation and criminal investigations into the crash are still underway, he added.

The Boeing 777-200, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, went down on July 17, 2014 near Grabove village over the conflict zone in Donetsk region.

The search operation, which started immediately after the crash, was suspended in November last year because of harsh winter conditions and hostilities between government troops and pro-independence insurgents near the crash site.

The operation resumed on April 16, as a fragile truce was established in eastern Ukraine, allowing international experts to safely access the area. Endi