173 victims from MH17 site positively identified

Experts working to identify the victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 have gathered DNA samples from 283 people and have positively identified 173.

Wim Heijnen of the Netherlands Forensic Institute said yesterday the DNA samples did not all correspond to a victim’s identification. Some of the samples could be from workers who gathered the bodies where the jet was shot down in eastern Ukraine.

All 298 people on board died when the plane heading to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was shot out of the sky on July 17 over an area controlled by pro-Russia separatists.