The team of experts in Ukraine making a new effort to recover human remains and wreckage from flight MH17 have found a large number of personal possessions and body parts, team leader Pieter Jaap Aalbersberg said on Wednesday.

In addition, about 50 cubic metres of wreckage has been recovered, Aalbersberg said.

The 30-strong team, which includes people from Australia and Malaysia, reached Ukraine a week ago and are focusing their efforts on areas considered too dangerous to approach by earlier rescue missions. Work is progressing well, despite problems caused by wind and snow, Aalbersberg said.

MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was brought down, apparently by a missile fired by pro-Russian rebels. All 298 people on board, most of them Dutch, were killed.