CANBERRA , Australia, July 24 (UPI) -- Fifty police officers from Australia have been sent to the eastern Ukraine crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Thursday.
The six-mile-long debris field -- in territory held by Ukrainian separatists accused of shooting down the plane on July 17 -- has been the site of chaos, slow investigation, and alleged tampered evidence. Although the bodies of 40 victims of the crash have been returned to the Netherlands, where the flight originated, and the plane's black boxes are in British hands for evaluation, Abbott noted the crash scene is still under control of the separatists.