Shelling closes MH17 site again

Shelling close to the vast crash site of downed flight MH17 has forced international investigators to cut short a visit to an area where some of the jet's wreckage is lying, an OSCE observer with probe team said.

"We heard at a distance of approximately two kilometres incoming artillery from where we were and that was too close to continue," said Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's mission in Ukraine.

Mr Hug said the team had agreed earlier with both government forces and pro-Russian rebels to visit the village of Petropavlivka as part of the broader search operation.

The investigators only recently gained full access to the site after two weeks of violence in the area following the downing of the plane.

Many of the bodies have been transported to the Netherlands, but Dutch forensic experts say there are still remains in the crash site area.