Work has started to remove the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 from rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine.
Dutch experts supervise a crew from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic as they remove parts of MH17. Photo: AFP
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The airliner, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine in July. All 298 people on board were killed.
Local workers have started cutting pieces of the plane's wreckage with metal saws at the crash site, near the village of Grabove, and using cranes to load them onto lorries, the BBC reported.
Access had previously been limited by rebels and the conflict in Ukraine.
The Dutch Safety Board said the recovery operation was expected to take several days and the debris would be transported to the Netherlands for investigation.
It said in a [www.onderzoeksraad.nl/en/onderzoek/2049/investigation-crash-mh17-17-july-2014/onderzoek/1573/recovery-wreckage-mh17-started statement] that the wreckage would assist "the investigation into the cause of the crash", adding that it intended to reconstruct a section of the aircraft.
More human remains have been discovered under the wreckage, according to media reports.
Dutch take lead in recovery operation
Teams from Donetsk's emergency ministry are collecting the debris under the supervision of Dutch officials.
Dutch Safety Board spokesman Wim van der Weegen said that because the crash area was large, his team did not intend to recover all the wreckage.
The board had identified the most important pieces of debris for the inquiry and would prioritise their recovery, he added.
A majority of those who died in the disaster were from the Netherlands and the Dutch government has taken the lead in the investigation.
Dutch experts arrived at the crash site early on Tuesday but were unable to begin salvage efforts because no deal had been reached with local rebel groups.
Although investigators have yet to establish the exact cause of the crash, Ukraine and Western countries accused pro-Russian rebels of shooting the plane down with a Russian-made missile, an accusation which Russia denied.
Much of last weekend's G20 Leaders' Summit focused on Russian leader Vladimir Putin's position on the Ukraine conflict, with the US, UK and Canadian leaders criticising Mr Putin.
A pro-Russian gunman stands guard as Dutch experts supervise a crew from the the Donetsk People's Republic. Photo: AFP
Members of the Dutch expert team watch as parts of the wreckage are removed Photo: AFP