Friends and family of the victims of the MH17 plane crash were on Tuesday allowed a look at the wreckage brought back from the crash site in eastern Ukraine.

Flight MH17 was brought down by a missile last July while flying in Ukrainian airspace over an area where the Ukrainian army was fighting Russian separatists. All 298 passengers were killed, including 196 Dutch nationals.

The wreckage was brought back to the Netherlands last December and taken to the Gilze-Rijen airbase where it has been photographed, scanned and divided into component parts.

The most relevant parts of the plane for the investigation into the crash, such as the cockpit and the left wing, are stored in a separate hangar from the rest of the wreckage and were not shown to the family and friends.

These pieces will be used for a reconstruction and once this is finished, interested family and friends will be able to view it.

The investigation into the crash is expected to continue until the end of this year.