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HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of international investigators are setting up a base of operations at a chicken farm in eastern Ukraine. From there, they will carry out a search of the surrounding area for debris from the Malaysia Airlines crash, and the remains of as many as 80 of the people on board.
The region is still seeing some fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia rebels. As the investigators arrived, the sound of artillery fire could be heard in the distance. Hours earlier, at least 10 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in an ambush by the separatists in a town near the wreckage site.
The investigators are from the Netherlands and Australia, and are joined by officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. They traveled from the rebel-held city of Donetsk in 15 cars and a bus, to the crash site outside the village of Hrabove (HRAH'-boh-veh).
The investigative team's top priority is to recover human remains that have been rotting in midsummer heat of 90 degrees since the plane went down on July 17. They will also try to retrieve the belongings of the 298 people killed aboard the Boeing 777.
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APPHOTO XDL104: Australian investigators examine the area of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane crash in the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. The investigators from the Netherlands and Australia plus officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe traveled from the rebel-held city of Donetsk in 15 cars and a bus to the crash site outside the village of Hrabove. Then they started setting up a base to work from at a chicken farm. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) (1 Aug 2014)
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APPHOTO XDL103: Australian experts examine the area of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane crash in the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. The head of the Dutch-led international team investigating the Malaysian Airline Flight 17 disaster says his group has retrieved additional DNA samples from 25 victims at a mortuary in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) (1 Aug 2014)
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