“The joint team of Australian and Dutch investigators, accompanied by independent monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have again suspended any attempt today to visit the MH17 wreckage whilst negotiations continue to secure safe access to the site,” the police agency said Wednesday in a media release.Continue..
After their three previous attempts failed, the contingent of western law enforcement officers hoped to venture into the area overnight, but a shattered truce between the warring parties botched the effort.
A truce had been agreed in the 40km zone around the site between both the pro-Kiev military and local defense forces, but the Ukrainian Army later continued its offensive against the militia to recapture the city of Donetsk.
So far, the team of international investigators has been able to access the site only sporadically. The Australian police agency said it would seek to reach the site of the disaster as long as the safety of its servicemen is not under threat.
“The mission will again attempt to enter the crash site when suitable arrangements are in place to provide an appropriately secure area for officers to begin the search for the remains and belongings of victims,” the statement said.
On Tuesday, a group of Dutch and Australian police officers had to call off their trip to the contested crash area near the city of Torez due to ongoing fighting.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott expressed concern over the armed conflict around the crash site, saying “it’s not just the separatists, it’s the Ukrainian government as well.”
A total of 298 people, including 193 Dutch citizens and 27 Australians, died on July 17 as a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Donetsk Region of Ukraine.
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