Victims' Items, DNA Samples Retrieved From MH17 CrashSite in Ukraine

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A small team of Dutch and Australian investigators who reached the field where Malaysia AirlinesFlight MH17 was shot down found no additional human remains Thursday amid "very unstable"security, officials said. But the investigators at the site in eastern Ukraine were given personalbelongings of 27 victims and DNA samples of 25 victims for identification, said Pieter-JaapAalbersberg, the head of the Dutch recovery mission. He said the team will return to the site Fridayand resume "limited" reconnaissance in a few locations.

"It is a war zone, so I hope we will still get access to the area in the coming days," Aalbersberg toldreporters.

The investigators' return to the crash site was the first successful one in more than a week --ongoing clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists have made the recovery ofpassengers a dangerous task. Since the plane was downed by a ground-to-air missile on July 17, atleast 200 bodies have been retrieved and were sent back to the Netherlands, where most of thevictims were from. Aalbersberg couldn't say exactly how many bodies of the 298 passengers aboardFlight MH17 are still unrecovered.

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First published July 31 2014, 12:28 PM

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-plane-crash/victims-items-dna-samples-retrieved-mh17-crash-site-ukraine-n169816