MH17 Crash: Over 80 Bodies Still Lie At Crash Site, Flight Downed By ‘High Energy’ Impacts

The remains of the bodies of 80 passengers who were aboard the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 are still unaccounted for, the CNN reports. International organizations had earlier also reported about these bodies and confirmed that not all human remains from the crash site of the MH17 have been recovered. In more bad news for the relatives of the people on board MH17, it is unlikely that these remains would be recovered any time soon. This is because people who are trained for salvage operations of these nature fear for their lives and are not in a condition to work in the area due to the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

The CNN video report adds that an estimated 20,000 Russian troops have surrounded the area near the MH17 crash site. According to Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesperson for the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), he was witness to “horrific” scenes in the region of the conflict. He reiterated that there are several “human remains out there that still needs to be collected.” He added that the collection is not happening at the moment because of the violence in the areas. The team of experts assigned the duty of identifying the remains of the victims of the MH17 crash are awaiting for a de-escalation of the conflict so that they can go about their work, he added.

When asked about the confidence level that the human remains would be removed from the site soon, Michael replied;

“We are hopeful that the remainder of the human remains are collected. They are also collecting personal belongings – and have also collected 10 cubic meters of belongings recently, to be given back to the families.”

He also hinted towards the possibility that the remains of several people on board could be never recovered because of the fact that several parts of the aircraft caught fire following the impact – with temperatures reaching nearly 1,600 degrees. It is likely that many of the bodies could have simply vaporized upon impact.

In related news, the USA Today reports that ill-fated MH17 aircraft was struck by multiple “high-energy objects from outside the aircraft.” And that it was these impacts that caused the plane to lose structural integrity and break up in midair. The news report cited a preliminary report submitted by the Dutch Safety Board. The report however doesn’t clearly mention the nature of these “high energy objects.” It is generally thought that it was a rocket that brought down the MH17.

It has been over a month and a half since the MH17 with 298 people on board crashed in Donetsk, a town near the Ukraine-Russia border.

[Images Via Wikimedia Commons]