Ukraine train carrying MH17 bodies arrives in govt-held Kharkiv

A train carrying some 280 bodies from downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 arrived Tuesday in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

Refrigerated wagons carrying the remains were taken to a military factory in the Kiev-held industrial hub where they were set to be unloaded by a team of Dutch experts before being flown out to the Netherlands.

A total of 298 people from about a dozen countries were on board the doomed jet when it was apparently shot down by a surface-to-air missile over rebel-held territory last Thursday.

International outrage had grown over the insurgents' treatment of the remains after they were left rotting in the summer sun for days before being unceremoniously loaded onto the train wagons.

The Netherlands -- which lost 193 people in the crash -- has been handed the reins of the investigation and given responsibility for taking the bodies to Amsterdam before sending them on to grieving relatives around the globe.