MH17: New wreckage and human remains found by Australian investigators

AUSTRALIAN investigators are among a small team to have made an “extraordinary” new finding at the MH17 crash site in Ukraine.

AUSTRALIAN investigators were among a small team to discover more human remains and a crucial new section of the MH17 wreckage overnight, a week after the plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

Two Australian diplomats and a forensic expert, believed to be part of the Australian Federal Police, have joined Dutch investigators at the Grabovo crash site where key pieces of evidence that had been previously unaccounted for have been found.

Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) spokesman Michael Bociurkiw escorted the team of 12 monitors through the crash site overnight and confirmed that they had found more human remains.

“We saw remains yesterday and we saw one spot of remains today,” he said.

About a mile from the main #MH17 crash site, inspectors came across a huge piece of fuselage they haven't seen before pic.twitter.com/CD7P2BkDDT

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 24, 2014

OSCE says this is the biggest piece of #MH17 found so far. Part of fuselage in a forest. Some windows intact. pic.twitter.com/SwXR2abTmR

— Phil Black (@PhilBlackCNN) July 24, 2014

They also made what Mr Bociurkiw called “an extraordinary finding”, a large and previously overlooked section of the fuselage, with windows and seats still attached.

Discovered in a wooded area more than a kilometre away from the main crash site, it is the largest intact piece of the fuselage to be found by investigators.

Mr Bociurkiw said parts of the wreckage that the team inspected yesterday had “almost machinegun types of holes”.

“The Australians are getting a sense of the security for the area, they’re mapping it, they’re getting a sense of where the crash sites are,” he said, adding that two or three more Australians were expected to join the inspection team today.

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There are still concerns that the crash site has not been adequately secured, with farmers driving combine harvesters in areas that could contain crucial evidence or even human remains.

Michael Bociurkiw from monitoring group Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe speaks to journalists after inspecting part of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Picture: Rob Stothard/Getty Images

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she hoped the fact the Netherlands was now officially in charge of the investigation would allow the site near the Russian border to be secured within days.

About 50 AFP officers are in London awaiting approval for a UN-backed international team to work at the crash site.

Meanwhile, officials say the MH17 site remains unstable, with reports of gunmen chasing investigators away and “lunatics” hampering efforts to inspect the wreckage.

Ukraine Emergency Situations Service head Serhiy Bochkovsky said pro-Russian separatists at the site had taken away their base camp tents, Reuters reports.

“We were allowed only our equipment and machinery and we were chased away at gunpoint,” he said.

Vehicles transporting observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe drive through the main crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Grabovo, Ukraine. Picture: Rob Stothard/Getty Images

The head of the Dutch police mission also had difficulties when attempting to recover more bodies from the site.

“But the process is not over, there are still remains in your country and it’s very hard to get there because there are some, and I would say it’s not politically correct, but there are still some lunatics there,” Jan Tuinder said. “It’s very hard for us to get to the remains.”

However, the OSCE denied that there had been any incidents.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot down over eastern Ukraine last Thursday with 298 people on board, including 38 Australians.

A member of a local militia stands guard as vehicles transporting observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and International Committee of the Red Cross visit the main crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Grabovo, Ukraine. Picture: Rob Stothard/Getty Images

Originally published as MH17: New wreckage and human remains found by Australian investigators