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DUTCH AND AUSTRALIAN experts finally got to work at the crash site of downed flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine today, after fighting between government troops and pro-Russian rebels killed 14 people.
Seventy police investigators — by far the largest number to reach the location so far — were conducting “search operations in several places at the crash site,” a Dutch government statement said.
The mission is tasked with launching an international probe into the downing two weeks ago of the Malaysia Airlines plane with the loss of all 298 people on board.
Over 200 coffins have been sent back to the Netherlands, which lost 193 citizens in the 17 July crash, but many remains have yet to be recovered because of the fighting.
“If they find human remains while searching, they will immediately be recovered,” said Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, the Dutch police official sent to Ukraine to head up the mission.
Fighting and rebel restrictions to the site next to the town of Grabove had prevented the investigation getting under way before now, and the conflict was still raging on Friday.
The Ukrainian military said an overnight ambush by insurgents in Shakhtarsk, a town 25km from the main impact site, left 14 people dead, including at least 10 soldiers.
The clash broke a brief lull that had reigned around the site after Ukrainian authorities ordered a ceasefire.
“In total it is known that 14 people died but the bodies of four of them have not been identified and could be Ukrainian soldiers or terrorists,” military spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky told AFP.
Another spokesman said 13 soldiers were injured and 11 were still missing as clashes continued.
An AFP team some 12 kilometres from the MH17 site heard the sound of tank fire and saw smoke rising from the direction of Shakhtarsk.
Both rebels and Kiev have vowed to secure a circuitous access corridor to the location traced by scouts from the international team Thursday.
Ukraine’s army has pledged not to fight in the immediate vicinity of the insurgent-held site.
Elsewhere around the region, government forces relaunched their offensive to oust the separatists, ending a “day of quiet” that had brought a brief pause to over three months of conflict that has cost the lives of more than 1,100 people on the ground.
Ongoing fighting
The military claims it is getting close to cutting off main rebel stronghold of Donetsk from the Russian border and the second insurgent bastion of Lugansk, saying it took the village of Novyi Svit, some 25 kilometres southeast of the rebel stronghold of the industrial hub.
Fighting also flared in Donetsk, the main rebel-held city that serves as the base for the international police and journalists trying to reach the MH17 site some 60 kilometres away, with local authorities saying one civilian died after a minibus taxi was hit by mortar shrapnel.
In the second rebel bastion of Lugansk, officials said five civilians were killed and nine injured due to clashes over the past 24 hours.
The continuing violence highlighted the huge task facing the international probe into the downing of the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight, as more experts from Malaysia also arrived in Ukraine.
Experts are looking to take in heavier equipment and sniffer dogs to help scour the vast site but Dutch police taking the lead have warned that it may be a while before the mission reached full-strength.
The United States says the pro-Russian insurgents likely shot down the plane with a missile supplied from Russia. But Moscow and the rebels contend the aircraft could have been blown out of sky by a Ukrainian jet.
Russia’s aviation authorities said Thursday that a team of their own experts had arrived in Kiev and were hoping to reach the crash site.
Meanwhile, rebel officials, Russian and Ukraine envoys, and international monitors also agreed to hold another round of talks next week after discussing a possible prisoner swap in the meeting in Belarus.
International fallout
The fresh fighting on the ground entrenched a crisis that has pushed East-West tensions to their highest point since the Cold War. The EU and US have hit Russia with the most punitive measures since the collapse of the Communist bloc over its backing for the rebels.
Russia has shrugged off the latest sanctions against its key finance, defence and energy sectors — despite warnings they could tip the country’s shaky economy into recession — threatening that the measures would boomerang back to hurt Europe and US interests.
Some EU diplomats expressed concern that the tighter sanctions, which came into effect Friday, may in fact embolden President Vladimir Putin, convincing him that he no longer has anything to lose by further escalating the Ukraine conflict.
NATO has said Russia had boosted the number of troops along the border with Ukraine to “well over 12,000″ and that the figure was on the rise.
Russia also ratcheted up tensions by announcing fresh war games involving surface-to-air missiles on its southern flank.
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The over supply of shopping centres in limerick not only has killed the city but has affected every provincial town within a 40 mile radius of the area.
Ask any retailer!!
They’re still not willing to do anything about Limerick city… You want to do your weekly shopping in the city, finding parking is nightmare number one and paying for it is nightmare number two neither problem exists in the crescent, parkway or jetland! LCC are sitting on their hands about this issue because the fines and charges are a cash cow, essentially free money for the council!
Hey guys,
Thanks for pointing out that they Parkway Shopping Centre and the Parkway Valley site are different. (*Holds hands up*)
They are down the road from each other and the developer was referring to the valley site ‘the former Parkway Shopping Centre’, both contributed to the/my confusion. Hope it’s all clearer now.
Appreciate your collective diligence as ever. :-)
Rónán
Just what Limerick needs, more out of town shopping centres.
2000 jobs is what limerick needs
The same jobs could be created in the city centre between redevelopment and long term retail jobs if the same money was invested there. These huge shopping centers on the outskirts of the city are killing the city centre slowly. I’d argue that a vibrant city centre would be much more beneficial to the long term growth of the city than these developments.
Problem is these big retail outlets like marks & Spencer’s don’t want to go into the city centre, the main Dublin, cork and tipp roads are all in spitting distance of the new park way valley site
Noel and Colin are right in my opinion. All over Ireland the greed of developers has allowed relatively cheap sites on the edges of cities and towns to bleed the vitality out of city and town centres. I’m betting that this “opportunity” is another bonanza for a developer at the expense of Limerick City centre.
2000 jobs but will they be new jobs or replacing jobs lost at the parkway shopping centre the children’s rd shopping area or indeed the shopping area right next to this proposed development? In that area there is already two Dunnes and an aldi argos Heatons Easons Lifestyle Smyths toystore plus the big electric names and TK Maxx . In fact a huge number of big names. Apart from Mark and Spencer’s you have to wonder who will go in there. It’s a pity the city centre is so anti shopper as I used to love trips into town. Now it’s only ever on a must need basis.
Hope there’s a marks & Spencer !
How would you make the city more pro shopper though? More multistorey car parks, wider streets for traffic? It’s not really the city we want, is it?
Cheaper rates to attract tenants. Cheaper parking and pedestrianise more of the city centre.
Limerick city centre has been wrecked by these. I read a few years ago that Limerick has half the out of town retail space that Dublin has, for a tenth the population.
The ring road by the parkway is a traffic nightmare and the free flow of traffic is ruined by people queueing to turn into shopping centres.
You have to consider the regional population though. These developments serve the wider Midwest including Clare, Tipperary and County Limerick as much or more than the city. Their adverse effect on the city centre is real but very much overstated.
How can you say it is overstated? Have you walked through the city centre in Limerick recently? It is dead quiet the majority of the time, the amount of vacant shop spaces is terrible for the city and parking is a nightmare! LCC need to pull the finger out, making parking more available and affordable in the city centre and push through the Opera development. The parkway development should be stopped.
Decisions that council made over the years only confirms their in no rush to do anything. The city centre is deserted because of parking fees. I paid 6 euro one occasion for an hour and a half. Never again. And it was a council owned car park. No parking fees in the crescent shopping centre or Childers road of parkway and thats why they are always full. No sympathy for city centre. Their one goal is to screw people.
John, the solution to the city centre’s problems is to attract people to live in it. At the moment, Limerick’s population is largely suburban and that has to change if the city centre is to be vibrant again. Thankfully, we’re going in the right direction and more and more people have been choosing to live in the city centre in the last few years. While these out of town shopping centres do have some adverse effect on the city centre, it’s generally overstated and not the root cause of city centre decline.
The derelict site which was due to become a shopping centre was called parkway valley. The parkway shopping centre is not derelict and is very much open for business.
The parkway is a sh!thole, it’s in desperate need of refurbishment
The Parkway has been refurbished.
Wow.
Quick response from the Parkway to Conor’s complaint.
Great news, that is such an eyesore
This is good news and all but they need to focus on the city centre more.
The city centre is gone past saving thanks to the complete ineptitude of LCC. It’s all good making expensive boardwalks and pedestrianised streets, but all that has done is give people a nice place to walk through what is becoming a real life ghost town. Not to mention over zealous traffic wardens and an increase in dirty scobes roaming the place and you’d be mad to question why anybody would want to go in there.
It’s as simple as this – I can go to Limerick City, park my car on a street with the risk of getting a ticket (or getting it broken in to) and walk ages for a poor selection of shops or I can go somewhere like the Crescent SC, park for free, and have a huge selection of shops all located in doors in comfort. It’s a no brainer why people would choose these retails centres over the city.
The city centre has improved dramatically in the last few years. There’s a lot to do still but your view is incredibly negative. Having lived in other Irish cities, my favourite is Limerick. It offers far more than most people realise, and it’s time Limerick folk stopped apologising for the place.
I actually took lovely pics yesterday of the new board walk and commented the same. Its deserted.
Brian hold on a minute its not negative to state Limerick is desperately in need of rejuvenation. Its reality. Negative or not its a fact.
no way should marks and Spencer’s have been allowed to set up
Outside the city centre surely. Final nail in the coffin for the city centre me tinks!!
Eh, a bit of research there lads the parkway is very much open for business
Limerick is a small town that is extremely economically depressed. Another shopping centre is not needed.
The only thing that will be in it once it is built, is mobile phone shops, 2Euro stores and an Aldi anyway. You have to cater to the socioeconomic situation of the town, and that is all the average joe there can afford.
City – Limerick is a City !
no. it really isnt. New York is a city. London is a city. Limerick is a large town.
I can take anybody serious who follows Victoria Beckham & Katie Price !
There is a city charter for Limerick that is far older than new York. The size is not what makes a city.
Have you ever been in the crescent shopping centre? It’s as busy as anything in Dublin and people travel from all the adjoining counties to shop there.
On 1 point steve is right ,in ireland be be a city there must be 50,000 people within the city boundaries but there is not in limerick but when raheen and castletroy and others are throw into the mix the general area is very much a city , anyway beside all that this is the 3rd location I have heard for m and s , the 1st was were the Omniplex is that was to be demolished and rebuild the cinema in the back of the expanded car park ,the 2nd was the city centre buts it so dead in there now it’s certainly not viable as far as m and s would be concerned , this location for it is probably just going to mean a extra band of traffic to the area (which is not helped by the narrowing of the roads at groody roundabout) but it won’t make a massive difference to the area as people will eventually get sick of the volume of traffic at the parkway and groody roundabouts
No it isn’t.
@steve Nobody is saying Limerick is a global city like you’ve described such as New York, London, Tokyo, Paris or Singapore, you’ll find there are far more cities in the world that don’t fall into that category than do! Use your head, Limerick is a city on an Irish scale.
Colm, the population of Limerick City is about 100,000. The suburbs you mentioned are now officially part of the city. But even without those, the population is greater than 50,000.
Correct in fact Limerick city is a Charter older than London Town !
I work in Limerick City Monday to Friday. I’m astonished on a daily basis since starting back at work how much Limerick has changed for the better. The city is turning itself around. Bit by bit. Not due to big developers but SMEs taking a leap of faith and opening up shops and restaurants and cafés. It’s an organic, authentic re growth. The city looks good, people are taking pride in their premises and streets. There is definitely a sense of optimism and hard graft going on. It’s certainly more alive and a much happier place than it has been for the last few years.
Ya but the fact of the matter is that a street full of coffee shops and pound shops doesn’t make for a very attractive city and will not attract footfall. They are all there on short term leasehold contracts so really do nothing to ensure the long term viability of the city. A M&S in the city centre would have had the drastic effect that is desperately needed.
Well said Patrick. Its full of cheap and not so cheap coffee shops. very little else. Living there all my life and never go near the city centre. Waste of time.
The architecture leaves a lot to be desired! !
City Centre has improved marginally over the last few years but there is still lots of improvements. The debacle about Marks coming to Limerick has been ongoing since I was young. I’m rather surprised that they have decided to go ahead with this as their sales aren’t doing very well in general, let alone the Irish market…even their food has taken a hit in recent years. Douglas in Cork seems to have completely flopped for them too, they do much better in Dublin anyway,
*Lots of improvements to be made even….they really need to stop all these out of town shops to try and get people back into the city. Tons of carparks but no incentive to actually shop in there otherwise.
I don’t think there’s any official word from M&S and it’s more than likely the developer just trying to win public and official support for his development (there’s a hysterical obsession about M&S in Limerick). The same developer said he had M&S lined up for his ill-fated ‘Opera Centre’ project on Patrick Street, but it was never confirmed by the retailer.
Quit whining! Limerick is a fantastic city!
Marks & Spencer.
Limerick’s monorail.
Invest the money in the city centre!! Do they think about the consequences at all?
It will be great if there is going to be another shopping centre :)
Last Monday I drove from the Ardnacrusha side of Limerick straight up through the centre of the city, I have seen more life at 04.00am there. Friday and Sunday evenings are the same! (Unless the students are back or a big match at the Garlinge Ground /Thomson Park.)
A couple of horses in the artist impression would not have gone astray…
I rarely ever go into the city center anymore, it’s depressing with all the closed down shops, plus there’s never anywhere to park. Like a lot of others I do just go to the Crescent. I do enjoy the city center around Christmas though…
Are they gone soft in the head? Theres two EMPTY shopping centres, one where Wickes used to be and another on the other side of the roundabout near B and Q, and the city centre devoid of shops, did they eat a bowl of stupid for breakfast? They have the city ruined.
Mad Mary.
The big question is how it will be pronounced: to rhyme with ball or shall?
you will never get the likes of m&s,dunnes,tesco and so on into town centres anymore.no parking,no room for deliveries and numerous other reasons see to this and the problem is that the other chain stores follow the large retails to get the footfall so unless these out of town developments are restricted in some way as to thier size or number of particular units within the development then the trend of town centres dying will never change
Looks like a nice mall to me. The architectural design is awesome! :)
How long will it be before some morons begin to object to building of the new shopping centre.
What about the morons in City Hall which have given planning permission for over 20 restaurants & coffee shops on OConnell street !! No wonder the city centre is devoid of shoppers – there are hardly any fcuking shops there!!
“Moron” (n.) — One who doubts wisdom of plan.
What an interesting dictionary you must have.
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