Delayed for months by chaos and conflict , the recovery of wreckage from downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has finally begun in war-torn eastern Ukraine , Dutch officials said Sunday . The passenger jet carrying 298 people was shot down in July over a rural area of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists . The vast crash site was left unsecured , and international investigators struggled to reach the area amid fighting between the rebels and Ukrainian government forces . Everyone aboard the flight was killed . Around two-thirds of the victims were from the Netherlands . All Malaysian remains from Flight MH17 ID 'd . Dutch officials have commissioned the recovery and transport of the wreckage back to the Netherlands as part of the investigation into the cause of the crash . The recovery operation is expected to take several days , the Dutch Safety Board said in a statement Sunday , and security and other factors will be assessed daily . The wreckage will be transported to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv before being sent to the Netherlands . The investigators intend to reconstruct a section of the aircraft , the safety board said . Several western nations and the Ukrainian government have accused the pro-Russian separatists operating in the region of shooting down the plane with a missile . Rebel leaders and the Russian government have disputed the claims . In its preliminary report in September on the disaster , the Dutch agency said Flight 17 broke apart in the air after it was hit by a burst of `` high-energy objects '' from outside . That report set out a list of areas that still need further investigation , including forensic examination of wreckage and any foreign objects found . It noted at the time that Dutch investigators still had n't been able to visit the site amid the unstable situation in eastern Ukraine . In the aftermath of the crash , the rebels were widely accused of looting the site , tampering with the evidence and stopping investigators from combing through the wreckage . After an initial delay , most of the bodies of the victims have been removed from the area and transported out of Ukraine . But as recently as September , Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was likely that there were still remains strewn across the fields . Australia had 38 of its citizens and residents on the plane . Passenger found wearing oxygen mask .
Dutch officials have commissioned the transport of the wreckage back to the Netherlands . They say the recovery operation is expected to take several days . The passenger jet carrying 298 people was shot down in July over eastern Ukraine . Investigators were prevented from accessing the site by the unstable situation .