Dutch experts cancel Ukraine crash site visit

Dutch experts have been forced to cancel their plans to visit the site of the downed Malaysia Airline flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine due to ongoing fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian troops in the area.

Flight MH17 crashed on 17 July, killing all 298 people on board. The rebels have been accused of shooting down, to which the rebels have retorted by blaming the Ukrainian military of downing the aircraft.

An international team of investigators, who are currently in Donetsk, have struggled to gain access to the rebel-controlled crash site, arguing that the ongoing fighting is too much of a risk.

Fighting was reported close to the MH17 crash site, near the town of Grabove on Sunday.

The setback happened despite an agreement agreed between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Ukrainian separatist leader Aleksander Borodai to allow international police access to the site in order to "provide protection for international crash investigators".

"The situation on the ground appears to be unsafe ... we therefore decided to deploy tomorrow morning," said Alexander Hug, deputy head for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's monitoring mission in Ukraine.

A statement issued by the office of Najib Razak, Malaysian prime minister, said the agreement with Aleksander Borodai, the separatist leader, would "provide protection for international crash investigators" to recover human remains and ascertain the cause of the crash.

"It is imperative that we deploy a full team of investigators to ensure all the human remains are removed from the site, identified and repatriated," Najib said in the statement.

Observers say the crash site is still strewn with remains.

Flights from Ukraine to the Netherlands have taken 227 coffins containing victims of the plane disaster.

The first MH17 victim has been identified, though officials did not reveal any details.

Officials say the exact number of bodies already collected will be determined only after forensic experts have completed their examination.