By Robert Wall
LONDON--The Dutch Safety Board Thursday said it had made plans
to recover from Ukraine some of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines
Flight 17 and reconstruct parts of the Boeing Co. 777 jetliner as
part of its crash investigation probe.
The Dutch group, which is leading the probe into the downing of
the Malaysia Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine on July 17, said it
"expects that it will be possible to start the recovery operation
within a few days." The effort could be delayed by "the precarious
safety situation in the area and other factors," it said in a
statement.
Fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in
the area around Donetsk, where the aircraft came down, has resumed
after a cease fire period. Earlier fighting already kept accident
investigators from accessing the site. All 298 people on board
died.
"As part of the investigation into the cause and progress of the
crash, the Dutch Safety Board intends to reconstruct a section of
the aircraft, " it said today. Preparations have been mode to
transfer the wreckage, it said.
The accident investigators in September issued an interim crash
report that found high-energy objects struck the plane traveling at
33,000 feet, consistent with the widely held view the plane was
brought down by a sophisticated antiaircraft weapon while the
jetliner was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Ukraine and
the U.S. accuse the separatist rebels of downing the plane, a
charge Russia denies.
The final crash report is expected next summer.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
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