Five more victims of the Boeing 777 plane crash in eastern Ukraine have been identified this week, bringing the total number of identified victims to 289, the Dutch government has announced.
“It was announced today that a further five victims of the MH17 air disaster were identified this week. Four of the five victims are Dutch nationals… Information about the nationality of non-Dutch victims is being withheld at the request of their countries’ embassies,” the government said in a Dutch-language statement on Friday.
“The 289 victims were identified by the state of their teeth, fingerprints and DNA,” he said.
“No DNA profile has been found yet for nine people still unaccounted for in order to identify the remains. It is quite possible that the missing information will become available… but when, and if all, is difficult to say for now. It is also possible that body parts of those unaccounted for will not be found at the scene at all. The media will be informed further as more information on identification becomes available,” the statement said.
Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 (flight MH17) crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 while flying from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). All 298 people on board were killed. They included 196 Dutch nationals, 44 Malaysians, including the 15 crew members, and 27 Australians, as well as citizens of Indonesia, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.
The main theory behind the crash is that the plane was shot down by a rocket while flying over an armed conflict zone in southeastern Ukraine.
The international inquiry team includes experts from Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine. Experts’ access to the scene was hampered by the hostilities conducted in the area.
According to the Ukrainian state commission for the crash inquiry, the international experts are hoping to complete the second phase of investigation at the air crash scene before the start of the winter season.
On October 27 the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice said it was able to identify the bodies of a total of 284 passengers of the doomed flight.
