Malaysia Airlines MH17: British Air Crash Experts Denied Access to Crash Site

Air crash investigators from the UK who travelled to the Ukraine at the request of the Foreign Office and the Department for Transport are still waiting to visit the crash site.

The six-strong team from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have been in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, around 300 miles from the crash site, since Saturday.

Two serving officers with the Metropolitan Police are also in Ukraine as part of the team deployed to help identify the ten British victims.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "It is not known when, or if, the AAIB team will be able to get to the crash site, where a study of the wreckage will afford investigators key information about the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777."

When Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in 1988, the AAIB were tasked with sorting through the wreckage and reassembling the fuselage at their headquarters in Hampshire.

The AAIB often assist in overseas air accidents if Britons are involved or if the plane is powered by UK-made engines, as is the case in the flight MH17 disaster.