SHAKHTARSK, Ukraine (AP) — An international police team has failed to reach the crash site of a Malaysian Airlines plane for a second day running as clashes rage in a town on the road to the area.
A delegation of Australian and Dutch police and forensic experts stopped Monday in Shakhtarsk, a town around 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the fields where the aircraft was downed.
Sounds of regular shelling could be heard from Shakhtarsk and residents were fleeing town in cars.
AP reporters saw a high-rise apartment block in the town being hit by at least two rounds of artillery.
The mandate of the police team is to secure the currently rebel-controlled area so that comprehensive investigations can begin and any remaining bodies be recovered.