Security at MH17 site not improving: OSCE

By Maxime Zech on July 31, 2014 - 09:15
Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg
Dutch police commissioner Aalbersberg, leader of the repatriation mission. Source: Twitter/Karel van Oosterom/@KvanOosterom. (Dutch police commissioner Aalbersberg, leader of the repatriation mission. Source: Twitter/Karel van Oosterom/@KvanOosterom)

There is still little faith in the safety of the area around the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine, as the Dutch team looking to access the site for investigation had to turn back again yesterday. The chance that they will be able to access the site soon is not likely, the OSCE says.

Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg of the repatriation mission says that there is a lot of fighting and shooting happening in the area, which is blocking investigators from traveling through the region. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Andrey Lysenko of the National Council for Defense and Security in Kiev, the rebels are placing mines on the roads to the crash site.

Alexander Hug, leader of the OSCE team in Donetsk, he has not found any mines, and believes it is mere speculation. If there are mines, however, then "measures have to be taken."

On Wednesday, the Dutch people made the decision not to travel to the crash site again. A statement on the Dutch Government Information Service clarifies that the situation had been deemed "too dangerous" to take the risk.

The OSCE also made an attempt to reach the site Wednesday, but turned back at a rebel control post. According to reports, they spotted wounded people there, who may have been rebels.

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