Dutch official denies that members of intl expert team visited Boeing crash site
MOSCOW. Aug 1 (Interfax) - Wim van der Weegen of the Dutch Safety Board, the agency officially leading the international investigation into the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crash in the Donetsk region, has stated in an interview shown on RT that Dutch experts have not yet visited the crash site.
Some media outlets reported earlier that a group of 60 international experts, including Dutch and Australian ones, were examining the crash site.
Speaking on RT, van der Weegen said there had been no experts or specialists at the crash site yet, and those working in Donetsk and Kharkiv do not belong to the international team.
Since the moment the Dutch Safety Board took the lead in the investigation, its members have not had the opportunity to visit the crash scene, partly because of security concerns, he said.
The team led by the Dutch Safety Board proceeds in its actions from information and analysis provided by the Dutch Security and Justice Ministry and Defense Ministry in deciding how safe it is to travel to the disaster area, he said.
Van der Weegen said also that the team has collected a substantial amount of information, making it not really necessary to closely examine the crash site.
Nevertheless, the experts stand ready to head for the crash site as soon as such a chance arises, he said.