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fourth day in a refrigerated train, as Russian president Vladimir Putin, who is facing increasing international outrage over the disaster, hit back at his critics.
Since the bodies of the 298 victims fell from 33,000ft after their plane was struck by a surface-to-air missile, they were left in the open in sweltering heat for three days before being gathered up in bags, bundled on to trucks and driven away.
They were taken from there to the town of Torez, nine miles away, where they have been piled up in four refrigerated train carriages, which have done little to hold back the stench of decay which has already overtaken the corpses amid accusations the rebels are holding up the return of the bodies unnecessarily.Rebel commanders have reportedly promised that the train will leave this afternoon, but gave no indication of where or whether the bodies would be handed over.
Piled up: Rescue workers, pictured above, loaded the corpses onto trucks at the crash site in eastern Ukraine, which were then taken to refrigerated train carriages nine miles away
Sweltering: The bodies of around 200 victims of flight MH17 were heaped up in refrigerated train carriages in Torez, nine miles away from the crash site. Previously they had lain in the field for days in 85f heat, and observers have been overwhelmed by the stench of decay
The bodies had been lying spread out over fields for two days in the summer heat, before being removed from a large swathe of the crash site by yesterday
Stench: A rebel can be seen holding his nose as the door to a carriage containing the heaped bodies is opened
The chaos surrounding the handling of the crash has compounded the grief of families all around the world bereaved by the crash, who have been left unable to arrange funerals or properly mourn their dead.Victim's relatives have made emotional appeals for the bodies to be returned as soon as possible, amid reports that the refrigeration in the carriage has only been inconsistently working.
Today relatives of Glenn Thomas, a 49-year-old press officer from Blackpool who was on MH17, begged for the return of his body, saying he and other victims had been 'degraded'.
His nephew, 22-year-old Jordan Withers, said: ‘It's hard one to swallow - that's my uncle and everyone else's loved ones are there and they are being degraded and treated inhumanely.
‘They deserve a lot more respect than that. All we want now is my uncle back. I'm sure every other family who's been involved in this tragedy that's all they want.
‘It needs to be done as quickly and as peacefully as possible.
Tracey Withers, Mr Thomas’s twin sister, added: ‘We just want them to show some compassion and let people in to try and get the bodies back and the personal possessions.
‘We're just hoping we've got personal possessions that can be brought back, anything that was Glenn's - even a pen, a letter, a book - anything that resembles what Glenn would have had.’
The Ukrainian government, based in Kiev, today accused the rebels of holding up the trains at the station. A statement from a government committee investigating the disaster said that the return of the victims has been delayed because because 'terrorists are blocking its exit.'
However, today the head of a Dutch forensic team on the scene said the train should set off later today where 'we can do our work'.
'The train is going. We don't know the time and we don't know the destination. We got a promise: today it is going.'
'I just want the train to go to a place where we can do our work. And that is in the interest of everybody, especially the families of the victims.'
Meanwhile Russian president Vladimir Putin today hit back at his critics, and accused them of taking advantage of the MH17 disaster to further their own political goals.
Yesterday he said: 'There are already representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk [the rebel factions] working there, as well as representatives of the emergencies ministry of Ukraine and others. But this is not enough.... we need a fully representative group of experts to be working at the site.'
'In the meantime, nobody should and has no right to use this tragedy to achieve their narrowly selfish political goals.
'We repeatedly called upon all conflicting sides to stop the bloodshed immediately and sit down at the negotiating table. I can say with confidence that if military operations were not resumed on June 28 in eastern Ukraine, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.'
Rows of bodies: Bagged victims can be seen above lined up in front of a truck yesterday at the crash site, ready to be moved to the refrigerated trains
In the heat: Emergency workers were pictured today at the crash site still struggling to gather together the last bodies of victims
It came as rescuers retrieved more bodies today at the crash site in eastern Ukraine, where a total of 251 victims are believed to have been recovered.
The chaotic rescue effort continued ahead of an expected vote later by the U.N. Security Council on a resolution demanding international access to the crash site and a cease-fire around the area.
The pressure has been growing on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who the U.S. and others say has backed and armed the rebels, to rein in the insurgents in Ukraine and allow a full-scale investigation. The rebels have been blamed around the world for Thursday's downing of the Boeing 777.
This morning local rescue workers had piled 21 further black body bags by the side of the road at the crash site. It was unclear how quickly they would be transported to refrigerated railcars in the nearby town of Torez, where the other bodies are being held.
On Sunday night, Ukraine's emergency services agency said the total number of bodies found was 251. International indignation over the incident has grown as investigators still only have limited access to the crash site and it remains unclear when and where the victims' bodies will be transported.
A train engineer at the station said the cars' refrigeration had been off overnight but it was not immediately clear why. The cooling system was back up and running this morning, he said.
The shambolic effort to recover the bodies and investigate the crash has aroused international outrage, as pro-Russian rebels have hindered efforts by Ukrainian and international authorities. More than three days after the jetliner crashed, international investigators still had only limited access to the area where the plane landed.
Horrifying: The international community has expressed outrage over the undignified scene - with swarms of flies buzzing around the train
Horrifying: The bodies are dumped in rubbish trucks by rescue workers. Despite criticism, militiamen insist they are doing everything they can for the dead
A team of international monitors, including three from the Dutch National Forensic Investigations Team, were scheduled to visit both Torez and the crash site Monday.
That statement came in the wake of comments by the United States on Sunday, presenting what it called 'powerful' evidence that the rebels shot down the plane with a Russian surface-to-air missile.
'Russia is supporting these separatists. Russia is arming these separatists. Russia is training these separatists,' Secretary of State John Kerry said on CNN's `State of the Union.'
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Australia also spoke to Putin by phone late Sunday. European foreign ministers are also meeting in Brussels Tuesday to consider further sanctions on Russia.
Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday said there was a 'growing weight of evidence' suggesting that the rebels shot down the plane.
If that was the case, Cameron said that was 'a direct result of Russia destabilizing a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias and training and arming them.'
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose country lost 28 citizens in the tragedy, said Putin 'said all the right things' during their telephone conversation about ensuring an international investigation into the disaster.
Aftermath: Black bags are still being taken from the crash site by rescue workers
Collection: Flowers are laid on some of the corpses which are being arranged in the back of a truck
Cleared: Two workers prepare the vehicle for the corpses at a crash site in Grabovo
Macabre: The stench of death hangs in the air as the 298 victims' bodies are loaded into a refrigerated train after lying in the summer heat for two days
The international investigators, who are wearing body armour, were allowed to photograph some of the victims who had been removed nine miles from the crash site
'I'm now going to try to ensure that as far as Australia humanly can, we insist upon these things happening,' Abbott told Sydney Radio 2GB on Monday. 'The site is being treated more like a garden cleanup than a forensic investigation, and this is completely unacceptable.'
The Ukrainian government said in a statement on its website that a second train with four refrigerator cars had arrived at Torez station. On Monday morning, four rebels armed with automatic weapons were standing guard around the cars.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country lost 192 citizens on the plane, told a news conference that repatriating the bodies was his 'No. 1 priority.'
He said all efforts were aimed at getting the train with the bodies to 'territory controlled by Ukraine' and that a Dutch military plane was being sent to Kharkiv to set up a coordination center.
On Monday, three Dutch members with Holland's National Forensic Investigations Team arrived in Donetsk to join an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission.
Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the OSCE, said reports from the group's investigators in Ukraine suggest some bodies were incinerated without a trace.
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The bodies had been lying spread out over fields for two days in the summer heat, before being removed from a large swathe of the crash site by yesterday
Criticism: The scenes, with flies swarming around the carriages, sparked international outrage but Russian militia have defended the procedure
Controversy is now raging over not only the conditions in which the corpses are being kept, but also fears that vital evidence of exactly what caused the tragedy is being lost
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