MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - A group of 131 specialists from Malaysia en route to the site of the Boeing-777 crash in Eastern Ukraine, arrived in Kiev airport, while the Malaysian authorities are still working on getting safe access to the site, Malaysian and US media reported Saturday.
“I hope the process will run smoothly for the investigation team,” the head of the Malaysian delegation Khairil Hilmi Mokhtar told journalists upon landing in Kiev, as quoted by Malaysia's Rakyat Post.
The representatives of various Malaysian government agencies intend to stay in Ukraine until July 25, the news portal said.
Ukraine was expecting about 50-60 journalists from various international aviation security agencies to arrive from Malaysia, as well.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Malaysian authorities were in talks about getting free and safe access to the crash site.
"We are still working of getting access to the crash site," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told journalists.
Lai is expected to arrive in Kiev Saturday.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on Thursday, killing all the 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. The cause of the accident has not been determined so far.
Kiev blamed independence supporters in the turbulent Donetsk Region for downing the passenger plane with a surface-to-air missile. The leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic said local militia did not have the required technologies to shoot as high as 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) in the air.
Ukraine closed its airspace in the eastern Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions and called for an international investigation. Both Kiev authorities and militia leaders promised to ensure the safety of specialists working in the troubled region.
Ukraine and Malaysia Airlines are already investigating the accident, with the help of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which ensures international presence at the site.
The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), Interpol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are also planning to join the investigation.
