Bodies evacuated from crash site of Malaysian plane to Donetsk

MOSCOW, July 20 -- Some 198 bodies recovered from the Malaysian airliner crash site have been loaded onto refrigerated train carriages bound for a city in eastern Ukraine, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Sunday.

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) inspected the train, which left the town of Torez near the crash site and was heading to Donetsk.

Earlier in the day, representatives of the Ukrainian authorities and the insurgents had agreed to start evacuating bodies of the victims in the plane crash.

"We have reached a preliminary agreement with those who are controlling the airplane's crash site to evacuate the bodies," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman said, adding that the bodies would be submitted to forensic experts.

As many as 198 bodies have been found at the site, according to the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry.

The search operation has covered about 95 percent of the 34-square km search area, the ministry said.

Groisman said on Saturday that the search zone has been expanded to 35 km and 20 rescuers from the Emergencies Ministry were working at the scene, along with 800 to 900 militiamen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

Andrei Purgin, first deputy prime minister of Donetsk, said that they would guarantee the security of international experts at the crash site, according to Russia's Channel 1 TV.

Purgin urged Kiev to agree on a ceasefire so as to provide conditions for the work of specialists.

A Boeing 777 passenger plane of the Malaysia Airlines crashed in eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard.

An OSCE monitoring mission arrived at the scene on Friday and 132 experts from Malaysia arrived in Kiev on Saturday, according to the Interfax news agency.