Long process to identify MH17 victims

The families of MH17 crash victims face a long wait before they are able to farewell their loved ones with transportation of the bodies to the Netherlands only the start of a long process of identification and forensic investigation.

The remains of around 200 of the 298 plane crash victims are now on a refrigerated train being transported to the Ukraine city of Kharkiv.

They will then be transferred from body bags to wooden coffins to be flown to the Dutch city of Eindhoven to be processed by forensics experts from the Netherlands, France, Malaysia and Australia.

Dutch experts have expressed their concern that only two-thirds of the bodies have been found, but the efforts to recover the victims of the crash have been hampered by the sheer size of the crash area.

It is also assumed that some bodies have been covered by parts of the plane's debris, the Washington Post reports.

Identifying the bodies will take time, given the crash stripped many of the victims of their clothes and other belongings, while many have been dismembered or badly burned.

There has also been reports of rescue workers, pro-Russian separatist soldiers and villagers pilfering items from the wreckage.

One unnerving video showed a rebel soldier appearing to steal a ring from one of the dead passengers.

Meanwhile, evidence is mounting that the plane was taken down by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile.

Perforations dotting the fuselage and wings of the wreckage matches that of the missile, which is designed to explode between 30-100m before its target.

The subsequent shrapnel cloud then tears small holes into the aircraft, causing critical damage.

Defense analyst Reed Foster told the New York Times said the contour of the holes and the blistering of the paint indicates the plane was hit externally.