A report of victims’ bodies left to rot in an otherwise empty train station after the Malaysian Airline crash is creating shock and concern. The information is being released gradually this morning as it develops. This morning, a reporter in the area began tweeting photos of the train station, where, he says, there are no guards staying with the bodies.
According to a Buzzfeed reporter on location in Ukraine, bodies from the Malaysian airlines crash were taken to a train station , loaded on refrigerated cars, and, in his words, essentially “left to rot.” He says it’s unclear whether the refrigeration is working on the cars, and suggests by the smell when the door was opened for inspection that it is likely not.
What’s more amazing, as of this morning, he tweets that the bodies appear to have essentially been abandoned, left unattended by those who were guarding them.
The guards all vanished after the OSCE monitors left. Literally nobody is guarding the #MH17 bodies. Astonishing. pic.twitter.com/V1KWJ6nro3
— max seddon (@maxseddon) July 20, 2014
By comparison, only a short time before, a tweeted photo shows the cars with a number of guards from Ukraine’s police force.
Berkut guarding #MH17 bodies are most serious guys I’ve seen anywhere out east. Total opposite of crash site chaos. pic.twitter.com/mlzfgznysT — max seddon (@maxseddon) July 20, 2014
It’s being reported that 198 bodies were moved to the train station under orders from rebel forces in Ukraine, a full hundred fewer than the 298 that were reported to be on the plane when it was hit by a surface-to-air missile as it passed through a route other airlines were deliberately avoiding.
According to Bloomberg , Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that he felt the air route should have been safe, despite other airlines avoiding it, because it is unrestricted airspace and their planes have traveled the same route many times.
CNN reported yesterday that nearly 200 bodies had been found at the scene when searchers were briefly allowed into the area to collect the remains of the victims. At the time, the location to which the bodies were being taken had not been released. There’s also no word on where the remains of the remaining hundred or so victims may be.
However, reports say that the bodies were brought to the train station this morning, with no hint as to where they were overnight. It’s currently unclear whether the bodies will be left to rot, as reports claim is currently the case, or whether families will be able to reclaim their loved ones at some point.
[Photo Credit: Darren Koch ]
