21 more MH17 crash victims identified, experts fly home

Dutch forensics experts have identified 21 more flight MH17 crash victims, the government said Friday, as experts unable to work at the crash site in restive eastern Ukraine began flying home.

The Malaysia Airlines 777 exploded over Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 on board, 193 of them Dutch, with the West accusing Russian backed separatists of shooting it down.

Over 220 coffins have been flown back to the Netherlands, which is tasked with identifying the bodies.

Only two bodies had been identified so far, with the 21 new victims made up of 16 Dutch, including a dual British national, two Malaysians, a German, a Canadian and a Briton, the Dutch justice ministry said in a statement.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the search for body parts at the crash site was being suspended because of the deteriorating security situation in the face of fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Following that decision, two planes carrying 142 police experts from the Netherlands, Australia and Malaysia are flying to the Netherlands on Friday.