Ukraine: Rebels Have Taken Away All Plane Crash Bodies to Unknown Location

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

@AP: BREAKING: Ukraine: Rebels have taken away all bodies from the plane crash site to an unknown location.

Jul 20, 4:24 AM EDT

UKRAINE: REBELS HAVE TAKEN ALL PLANE CRASH BODIES

BY YURAS KARMANAU
ASSOCIATED PRESS

HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) -- Separatist rebels have taken away all the 196 bodies that workers recovered from the Malaysian Airlines plane crash site to an unknown location, Ukraine's emergency services said Sunday.

Associated Press journalists saw the rebels putting bagged bodies onto trucks at the crash site Saturday in eastern Ukraine and driving them away. On Sunday, AP journalists saw no bodies at the crash site and emergency workers were searching the sprawling area only for body parts.

Ukrainian spokeswoman Nataliya Bystro said Sunday that the emergency workers had been laboring under duress and were forced to give the bodies to the armed rebels.

"Where they took the bodies - we don't know," Bystro told The Associated Press.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_PLANE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-20-04-14-20

[jakeXT]

1. And what happened to the other 100 ? Or did AP use the wrong number 196, instead of 296 ? /nt

[Hissyspit]

2. From article:

Neither Bystro nor Pilyushny could explain what happened to the 102 bodies that have not yet been found.

[jakeXT]

4. Maybe they can count them in Kharkiv

Ukraine Foreign Ministry representative Andriy Sybiga said the bodies will be taken to Kharkiv, a government-controlled city 270 kilometres to the north, for identification.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07/18/mh17-emergency-workers-grimly-search-sunflower-fields-for-plane-debris-bodies-of-298-victims/

[roguevalley]

10. there are 8o kids. netherlands is breathing fire over handling of remains

They were scattered for miles. People said they fell into their gardens from the sky.awfulness.

Behold. Putin. Russia's dubya.

[Igel]

29. The number found is up in the 210s now.

They continue to find some.

Ukr reports there are 20 divers searching a body of water near the site.

[Cha]

3. Damn. And, Damn the whole thing.. those poor loved ones of the people who were on board and

shot out of the sky.

[truthisfreedom]

5. Putin: "Obviously, it never happened."

[billhicks76]

6. Interesting Side Note

Witnesses saw no bodies with flight 93 on 911. Is that because the impact was more accelerated and powerful? Only DNA was recovered. I assume the Malaysian airliner had bodies slide out of the ripped chassis and fall without being torn asunder.

[jakeXT]

8. There were only 40 something people on board. /nt

[billhicks76]

37. Yes

Anothet excellent point I forgot to mention.

[hack89]

16. It hit the ground at high speed and disintegrated

Nothing, including the bodies, was intact.

[Princess Turandot]

20. Something similar happened with the Valujet crash in Florida in the 1990's..

It crashed into the Everglades and was largely pulverized. They recovered only small fragments of the people who died.

[quadrature]

7. anybody remember Iran 655 shootdown in 1988?

did the same thing happen to these bodies?
more gruesome details available if anyone in interested.

[Sienna86]

13. An civilian Iranian Airbus shot down my a US Navy, missile over Iranian airspace.

I remember. Terrible and sad day.

I need to research how the US handled this incident. Did we take responsisibility, prevent investigators from being at the site, offer apologies and provide remuneration so to the families?

[hack89]

17. It was over water

We did not stop any investigation and we paid the families.

[OKNancy]

18. yes, no, yes, yes

took responsibility, offered apology and gave families compensation.
There is no comparison on how the US acted and this bunch has acted.

[cosmicone]

19. we claimed the plane was attacking.

we claimed the plane was in direct flight path towards the Navy ships - proven false later.
We claimed the plane was descendind towards the ship - proven false later.
We claimed the flight had not filed a flight path - it had.
We took charge of the investigation - supposedly to make sure the plane wasn't military.
We never accepred a grave error officially and chalked it to wartime accident.
We paid compensation ONLY to non-Iranians, saying any aid to families in Iran will be pocketed by the government.

[OKNancy]

21. where did that come from?

US paid $213,103.45 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims

[cosmicone]

22. Here is more info.

The compensation was originally paid only to non-Iranians.

Eight years later, the U.S. agreed to pay Iran $61.8 million, or $213,103 for each passenger on board Flight 655, as compensation to the families of the Iran Air victims. But the United States never issued an apology or took responsibility for shooting down the commercial passenger jet.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1358815/the-day-the-united-states-shot-down-a-civilian-airliner-a-look-back-at-iran-air-flight-655/#OSpCu1OPxlsZ6ehL.99

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/flight801/stories/july88crash.htm


Reagan shot the plane down and didn't pay a dime in compensation. Bill Clinton paid the compensation in 1996.

[joshcryer]

41. That was an explanation how the event unfolded.

It was not an excuse.

[cosmicone]

45. It WAS an excuse

Which Reagan admin and Pentagon steadfastly paraded. Even sayin an airbus looks just like an F14 on radar.

To date, the US has not apologized for the mistake. The commander of USS Vincennes was also decorated.

[NealK]

9. K&R

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Reports say some plane crash bodies loaded onto trains which are heading for rebel-held cities

More, and pics, here:
http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/reports-of-malaysian-plane-crash-in-ukraine-july-17-2014/

[reorg]

38. self-deleted

[davidpdx]

12. Ghoulish behavior

They have already claimed the bodies don't have blood in them. Maybe they are draining the blood now.

[happyslug]

31. So you want them to leave the bodies to rot in the sun???

It is SUMMER, those bodies will ROT. Something has to be done with them, thus the gathering of the bodies is standard in ANY ACCIDENT. Thus this is standard procedure in ANY ACCIDENT. The dispute is where the bodies end up, who gets to look at them and why.

[davidpdx]

46. The question is how much evidence is being destroyed accidentally or intensionally

I doubt any of the people doing so have the foggiest idea what they are doing. They are also forcing people to recover bodies and maintained control of the crash site at gunpoint, is not a good sign.

[Violet_Crumble]

14. Disgusting. They need to allow the bodies to be returned to their families...

This is so wrong.

[happyslug]

32. In all the accidents I have read about the bodies were gathered to preserve them

Such gathering of bodies is standard in accident. The bodies are examined and then given to the families for burial. The US does this is accidents as does other countries. If there is a problem it will be what happens to the bodies after the have been examined by medical experts. Some will be autopsied, others we be just looked at. That is part of ANY investigation of any crash of a plane (Be it accident or shot down).

[reorg]

39. AP is unfortunately not a trustworthy source

Here is the official Twitter account of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine:

SMM to #Ukraine told number of bodies stored in refrigerated train cars in Torez: 196. Cannot yet independently verify

https://twitter.com/OSCE_SMM

СММ ОБСЄ в Україні ?@OSCE_SMM 11 Std.
Monitors complete visit to Torez RR stn; observed 3 refrigerated wagons w/several dozen body bags said 2 B from #MH17 :thumb

[Amonester]

15. How much more barbaric can they get?

Against International Law also?

[happyslug]

33. Required by international law

Bodies MUST be preserved, thus the bodies must be recovered and return to the families. The Ukrainian Rebels hold the area where the plane crash and thus in charge of the investigation. In any such investigation any bodies are gathered and examined. The bodies are evidence. Bodes also ROT, thus to preserve them as evidence the bodies must be given some protection, i.e. kept refrigerated or at least taken out of the sun.

Thus international law requires the person who caused the crash to preserve the bodies, you can NOT do that by leaving them in the fields.

[geek tragedy]

23. Stealing corpses now. Barbaric scum. nt

[ensemble]

24. Or not...

Donetsk rebel leader Alexander Borodai said the bodies recovered from the crash site would remain in refrigerated train cars in the rebel-held town of Torez, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the crash site, until the arrival of an international aviation delegation.

"The bodies will go nowhere until experts arrive," Borodai said, speaking in the rebel-held city of Donetsk.


http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ukraine-rebels-plane-crash-bodies-24636773

[geek tragedy]

27. The rebels aren't the most truthful sort

He insisted that rebels had not interfered with the crash investigation, despite reports to the contrary by international monitors and journalists at the crash site.

[reorg]

42. some news bits on this tragedy look clearly planted

while some misreporting may be due to the general confusion that may be normal under such circumstances, other stories - of course immediately exploited by the scandal press - are just nasty. Such as the "grave robber" story and the suggestion that the militants would have an interest in "capturing" corpses. Such stories have no other purpose than spreading hatred.

[Igel]

30. Many have arrived.

But not the right ones, apparently.

OSCE folk are there. Ukrainians are there. Malaysians are apparently there.

They issued a call for Medvedev to send experts, since there were none. He even said that no OSCE folk were there. By that time, there'd been video released of experts on the scene and the OSCE were told there were allowed to look but not touch and had complained.

It made for a stunningly Soviet-era moment. Press releases issued at about the same time. "We've been here for hours and the rebels haven't allowed us access. Here's the video." "Nobody's here, so please send Russian help."

There are also persistent reports that what's holding up access by experts is the demand for a ceasefire for the during of the rescue and investigatve work. Otherwise, they claim, they can't fulfill their obligation to ensure the safety of the workers.

[Comrade Grumpy]

35. You would prefer they leave to rot in the fields?

[geek tragedy]

36. Conveniently taken to a rebel stronghold rather

than somewhere accessible to investigators.

Minus credit cards and jewelry and stuff like that, of course.

[dipsydoodle]

40. Think you may find they were moved to refridgerated units to help with preservation.

.

[AngryOldDem]

25. Kerry said on MTP that the rebels were also drunk.

I'll be surprised if the bodies are ever returned to their families. For that matter, I can almost absolutely guarantee that no care is being taken to make sure that they are recovered as intact as possible. Just being thrown into body bags and tossed onto trains -- the sooner more evidence is destroyed, the better: The "separatists'" and Putin's MO.

Has there ever been any kind of disaster, anywhere, where humanitarian groups and other parties whose expertise is in forensic/mortuary science were not allowed in to ensure dignified recovery and security of the scene? Ever?

A very special kind of hell awaits these thugs and their leader, Putin.

[Paolo123]

34. Except of course none of this is true

The bodies have been loaded on to refrigerated trains and are being sent to Kharkov. You should try not to fall so hard for sensationalized news stories.

[AngryOldDem]

43. Thanks for the advice.

I had forgotten all about the true professionalism that has been on display there over the past few days.

[onecaliberal]

26. What the *#$&

Where in the hell is the International Community.
Does Russia really think no one will want the remains of their loved ones. Also for a country who is supposedly innocent why are they keeping independent investigators away by shooting at them.
I am appalled.

[riverwalker]

28. follow @PaulSonne @maxseddon

best reporting from the scene @PaulSonne on Twitter

http://online.wsj.com/articles/some-bodies-removed-from-mh17-crash-site-1405849163

Bodies Removed From MH17 Crash Site

OSCE Observers Briefly Inspect Human Remains

Follow another at scene @maxseddon

[csziggy]

44. The Telegraph reports that the bodies are being taken to railroad cars

Refrigerated railroad cars that had not moved as of this morning:

That makes sense - in a rural location, that is probably the quickest way to get the bodies into refrigeration. While not ideal, not as heinous as some of the reports have been.