Outrage grows over handling of MH17 crash remains

ABCNews logo
Monday, July 21, 2014
Outrage grows over handling of plane crash remains
The pro-Russian separatists who guard the Malaysia plane crash site in Ukraine say they won't send the victims' bodies back to their families.

TOREZ, Ukraine -- The pro-Russian separatists who guard the Malaysia Airlines plane crash site in eastern Ukraine say they won't send the victims' bodies back to their families.



Outrage is growing over the handling of the remains from Flight 17. Family members are demanding answers.



"Twenty-three and 20-years-old, they're lying there on the floor somewhere," said Silene Fredsz-Hoogzand, mother of a Flight 17 victim. "I don't know where they are. I want their funeral,



"I want to arrange a funeral but I can't, I don't know where they are, said Silene Fredsz-Hoogzand, mother of a Flight 17 victim. "I want my children back. Send them home."



After days left amid the debris many of the bodies were finally recovered. On Sunday, nearly 200 of them were moved to refrigerated rail cars near the crash site



But the pro-Russian rebels who control the area have ignored cries to send the remains back.



The top rebel leader told ABC News Sunday they won't turn them over until international experts travel there to examine them. The problem is, those experts remain in Kiev with still no plans for them to travel



And the longer they wait the longer there is no investigation into the crime scene either. With all that evidence unexamined.



"Drunken separatists are stacking bodies into the back of trucks and removing materials from the site," said U.S Secretary of State John Kerry during an interview on ABC's This Week.



On Sunday, the U.S. presented its most detailed evidence yet that the rebels who guard the wreckage are the ones who shot it down



"There's a stacking up of evidence here, which Russia needs to help account for," Kerry said.



The U.S. is also pointing a finger straight at Russia.



"Russia has armed the separatists, Russia has supported the separatists," Russia has trained the separatists," said Kerry.



Across the globe vigils are being held for the victims while the calls for justice are growing louder.



That rebel leader told ABC News he was willing to hand the bodies over unconditionally to Russia but given the concerns about Russia's role in this conflict, it's unclear if that will be a solution either.

Copyright © 2024 ABC News Internet Ventures.