MH17 crash: 292 of the 298 victims identified

The Hague, Dec 6: Three more victims of the MH17 plane crash have been identified, which means 292 of the 298 passengers of that ill-fated aircraft have now been identified, Dutch authorities have said.

The Dutch ministry of security and justice announced this on Friday.

All identifications of the victims have been carried out in Hilversum, in the Netherlands, by the National Forensic Investigation Team (LTFO) based on tooth status, fingerprints or DNA, Xinhua reported.

The Malaysia Airlines plane, carrying 298 people, was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur July 17 when it crashed in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, about 60 km from the Russian border.

All passengers and crew members onboard the Boeing 777-200 died.

The crash occurred in the zone of combat between the Donetsk self-defence forces and the Ukrainian army.

All passengers and crew members onboard the Boeing 777-200 had died

Western governments have overwhelmingly blamed Russia for the crash and have held that the aircraft was destroyed by Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists with the help of weapons supplied by Russia.

Information on the six remaining unidentified victims might be available from the body parts currently present in Hilversum, but according to the authorities, it is also possible that the remains of the missing persons have not been recovered from the crash site.

The last Dutch military transport aircraft arrived at the Eindhoven air base from Kharkiv Nov 28 with the remains of the victims of the crash.

The plane carried six coffins with human remains. That transport could be the last, at least for this year, with winter and snow arriving in eastern Ukraine and the recovery mission being finished for now.

IANS