Malaysia Airlines Wreckage ‘Significantly Altered’
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(KHARKIV, Ukraine) — Wreckage from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine has been “significantly altered,” international monitors told ABC News, as remains of the victims arrived in territory held by the Ukrainian government.
Major pieces of the front of the plane appear to have been cut away, said Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the group observing the crash site. Earlier, investigators observed someone using power tools to cut into the wreckage.
Rebels have said they had to move and alter big pieces to get at bodies and body parts. But the OSCE said what they saw was a “very invasive” altering of the wreckage.
In a field in pro-Russian separatist territory, the crash site has remained completely unguarded.
A train full of victims of Malaysia Flight MH17 arrived Tuesday at an interim destination on its way west. A Soviet-made locomotive pulled windowless, refrigerated box cars into Kharkiv, where a C-130 was waiting to transport the human remains to the Netherlands.
The black boxes from the downed plane were handed over to Malaysian officials Monday.
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