KHARKIV, Ukraine - A train carrying the bodies of victims from the Malaysia Airlines jet downed by a missile last week arrived Tuesday morning in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv after a 17-hour journey out of lawless territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels.
Pushed by a diesel locomotive, five gray refrigerated wagons and a red passenger car crawled into the grounds of a decrepit Soviet-era tank factory shortly after noon, completing the first and most difficult stage of a long journey home for victims of the crash.
Ukrainian workers had to clear the track of mud and weeds to allow the train to pass along a long-disused stretch of rail leading to the Malyshev Factory, built to manufacture the Soviet T-34 tank and other military equipment.
The work on the tracks, however, did not prevent the train from stalling just a few yards from its final destination. Workers threw sand on the tracks to give the locomotive more traction.
The train was met by police forensic experts and other representatives of countries that had citizens on the doomed flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Security guards kept reporters outside the factory gates, and it was not immediately clear whether the bodies would be kept in Kharkiv for preliminary examination or swiftly transferred to a nearby airport for transport out of Ukraine.
The Netherlands, whose citizens made up two-thirds of the 298 passengers and crew aboard the plane, has sent a Hercules transport plane to Kharkiv. Australia has also sent a plane.
Ukrainian officials said that the train contained nearly all of the bodies of those killed when a surface-to-air missile felled Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on Thursday. The remains had been held for days by pro-Russian separatists at the crash site.
Rebels released the train Monday evening, bringing to end a long standoff that had brought international condemnation on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and the separatists whose cause he has supported.
Entities 0 Name: KHARKIV Count: 4 1 Name: Ukraine Count: 2 2 Name: Malaysia Airlines Count: 2 3 Name: Australia Count: 1 4 Name: Malaysia Count: 1 5 Name: Kuala Lumpur Count: 1 6 Name: Vladimir V. Putin Count: 1 7 Name: Netherlands Count: 1 8 Name: Amsterdam Count: 1 9 Name: Malyshev Count: 1 10 Name: Russia Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1n87aPE Title: Train carrying bodies of MH17 victims heads across Ukraine Description: Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- The train full of bodies chugged slowly across eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, getting the victims one step closer to their grieving families around the world. But a litany of obstacles remain -- not just in handling the remains, but in figuring out how and why Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine.
