“A small team has recovered body parts at the site after pieces of the wreckage were lifted with a crane,” the Dutch defence ministry said on Wednesday. Dutch experts, who are charged with body-part recovery and also leading the probe into the fatal July 17 crash that killed all 298 on board, arrived at the site on Tuesday. They are hoping to recover the debris from the Malaysia Airlines flight amid fears that full-scale fighting could break out again. The human remains will now be sent to Kharkiv for a first forensic check and be repatriated to the Netherlands at a later stage, the ministry said. The Dutch team’s chief official, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, said his small group had “done everything they could” to retrieve body parts and personal belongings.

“To continue, we would now need heavy equipment and far more forensic experts. At this moment it’s not possible,” Mr Aalbersberg said. He added the security situation around the crash site “remained fragile”.

The 298 on board included 193 Dutch nationals and 38 Australian citizens and residents. So far 289 victims had been identified through body parts recovered from the site, but no wreckage has been retrieved due to safety issues. Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders warned over the weekend that the last remains of MH17’s victims may never be recovered as five more coffins were flown back to the Netherlands.