The Dutch government said Saturday that the first formal identification of a Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash victim had taken place. The victim was a Dutch national, but the government declined to release other identifying information such as age and sex, The Associated Press reported. Two military planes from the Netherlands and Australia flew 38 more coffins carrying victims of the crash to Eindhoven, the city that has played host to multiple processions this week as other remains landed in the Dutch town. A total of 227 coffins have been flown to the Netherlands from eastern Ukraine, where MH 17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile on July 17.
The exact number of people that the coffins contain remains unknown, pending analysis by forensic experts, and the crash site still has remains, according to the AP. Beyond retrieving bodies from the wreckage site, the investigation into the crash remained on hold as fighting flared up in the region between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists. Ukrainian officials announced that their forces had made advances in the rebel-held territory, reaching the outskirts of Donetsk, a key city to the rebel movement.
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— Jacob Passy with The Associated Press
