Belongings of British MH17 
victim ‘stolen’

Cameron Dalziel, a 43-year-old helicopter rescue pilot who is understood to have been South African but travelling on a British passport, had his cards stolen, Shane Hattingh said.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said they are “working with family members to protect victims from the possibility of financial and identity fraud”.

Mr Hattingh said: “We’ve been told some of his cards were stolen. To do this to the families is so cruel.

“After all we’ve been through –to do this to the families is so cruel. It is leaving some struggling for money. This really is the final insult.”

Ten of the 298 people killed when the plane was shot down over Ukraine while flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam on July 17 were British.

Alexander Yakovenko, Russia’s ambassador to London said yesterday that the Kremlin was not responsible for supplying weapons to separatist rebels accused of bringing down the plane.

He warned that any attempt by the West to impose further sanctions against Russia would be seen in Moscow as evidence of a “cover-up”.

EU member states have agreed to add 15 individuals and 18 entities to the list of those subject to asset freezes – although their identities are yet to be published.

The black boxes have been analysed by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and by international experts at the AAIB’s headquarters at Farnborough in Hampshire, and the Dutch Safety Board said the information obtained will be included in the investigation.

A small group of Dutch and Australian investigators walked the sprawling, unsecured site yesterday where the aircraft went down as their governments prepared police detachments that will try to protect the crash area and help bring the last of the victims home.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said his country was ready to send 40 unarmed military police to rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to help investigators, while Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has said his government is close to a deal to send police. Australia has 90 federal police officers standing by in Europe.

The Boeing 777 went down on July 17 as it headed to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. US and Ukrainian officials say it was shot down, likely by mistake, by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists are fighting Ukrainian government forces.

Of the dead, 194 were Dutch citizens and 37 were Australian citizens or residents. Both countries’ governments have expressed determination to see the dead brought home and the crash investigated. Security concerns and rebel interference has delayed recovery of the bodies and has limited investigators’ access to the site, more than a week after the crash.

“This will be a police-led humanitarian mission,” Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop said in Kharkiv, where more remains were placed on flights to the Netherlands today for identification and investigation. “And there will be body identification experts, forensic experts. And of course we will ensure that they are safe, that they will have protection.”