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Refrigerated boxcars used to hold bodies from Malaysian plane

Assorted leaders speak with Putin
Ukrainian emergency workers carry a victim’s body in a bag at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, on Sunday. Rebels in eastern Ukraine took control Sunday of the bodies recovered from downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17; the U.S. and European leaders demanded Russian President Vladimir Putin make sure rebels give international investigators full access to the crash site.

TOREZ, Ukraine – Pro-Moscow rebels placed nearly 200 bodies from the downed Malaysian jetliner into four refrigerated boxcars Sunday in eastern Ukraine, and cranes at the crash scene moved big chunks of the Boeing 777 to see if more bodies could be uncovered, drawing condemnation from Western leaders that the rebels were tampering with the site.

The United States, meanwhile, presented what it called “powerful” evidence the rebels shot down the plane with a Russian surface-to-air missile. Although other governments have stopped short of accusing Russia of actually causing the crash, the U.S. was ahead of most in pointing blame on Moscow for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 that killed all 298 people aboard.

“Russia is supporting these separatists. Russia is arming these separatists. Russia is training these separatists,” Secretary of State John Kerry said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Australia spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone late Sunday, urging him to use his influence on the separatists to ensure the victims could be repatriated, and international investigators could have full access to collect evidence. They said European foreign ministers will be meeting in Brussels Tuesday to consider further sanctions on Russia.

More than three days after the jetliner crashed, international investigators still had only limited access to the sprawling fields where the plane fell.

U.N. Security Council diplomats tweeted Sunday the council would vote this afternoon on a draft resolution co-sponsored by Australia, France and Lithuania that would call for full access to the crash site and an independent investigation.

Russian officials have blamed Ukraine’s government for creating the situation and atmosphere in which the plane was downed but has yet to directly address the allegations the separatists were responsible or were operating with technical assistance from Moscow.

The 42-square-mile crash site, spread out on farmland and villages, looked dramatically different Sunday, a day after armed rebels had stood guard while dozens of bodies lay in the summer heat. The rebels were gone, and 192 bodies were loaded into the refrigerated train cars in the rebel-held town of Torez, nine miles away.

The Ukrainian government said in a statement on its website that a second train with four refrigerator cars had arrived at Torez station.

Emergency workers, who the rebels have allowed to operate under their control, were searching the sprawling fields. Cranes moved pieces of the plane around, apparently to look for more bodies underneath.

By Sunday night, Ukraine’s emergency services agency said the total number of bodies found was 251, with dozens of body parts.



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