Members of the international team searching for the remaining bodies of people on board Malaysia Airways flight MH17 are hoping to be able to reach the crash site on Friday, after an advanced team made it through on Thursday.

‘This morning the convoy could leave Donetsk,’ Nos correspondent Gert-Jan Dennekamp said. The team has been unable to start work up to now because of fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.

The team is hoping to be able to start searching for possessions and the remaining bodies once they reach the area where the Boeing 777 came down. Refrigerated vans are also moving into the area, Dennekamp said.

DNA

By Sunday the team should be at full strength and will remain in the area rather than returning to Donetsk, which is some 100 kilometres north of the crash site.

Meanwhile ‘dna material’ and some of the victims possessions were handed over to the Dutch experts by the rebels in Donetsk on Thursday, although it is not clear what the ‘dna material’ consists of.

The team was given the 25 samples at a mortuary in Donetsk as well as the possessions of 27 victims, Dutch media report. However, officials declined to give further details.

Donetsk is in the hands of pro-Russian separatists who also control large parts of the crash site and and are thought to have brought down the plane with a missile.