Dutch failed in MH17 recovery: Donetsk official

According to a Ukrainian official in Donetsk, the Dutch investigative team working to recover the victims of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 made no efforts to communicate with the Ukrainian team who were in the area for the first five days after the crash. The official tells RTL Nieuws that the Dutch mission leaders made big mistakes in the operation. According to discussions between RTL and officials in Donetsk, the Dutch team went straight into the crash site area without asking for the details that the Ukrainian team had already collected at this point. One official says he led a recovery operation, employing rescue workers, mine workers and volunteers to find and safeguard the bodies of victims. The workers wrote information on where and how they found the bodies in a document, which was kept with the bodies. According to the official, the Dutch team did not speak with him about this, and actually says that RTL Nieuws is the first to hear about it. "Nobody has interviewed me until today. I have shared no information. All the documents we worked with, maps and schemes, are lying at the regional headquarters." The official did add that they were willing to share this information if asked. The size of the recovery area that the Dutch team mapped out is also different from what this official says is the size that he and his team worked in. The official mentions a size of 160 square meters, whereas the Dutch mission later spoke of a search area spanning 60 square meters, also areas where the local team made thorough searches, the official claims. The Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice refuses these claims from the official. "Before the search started, all relevant parties were spoken with", a spokesperson says.