REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON -- Britain will send six investigators from the British Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) to provide assistance to the probe into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, Downing Street announced Friday.
Britain's National Security Adviser chaired a meeting on the MH17 disaster on Friday afternoon. Officials from across the British government, the police and representatives of the agencies were present.
The British Foreign Office has sent extra consular staff to Ukraine to support teams on the ground, and the Metropolitan Police are liaising with international partners to send specialist offers to Ukraine to assist with the "recovery, identification and repatriation of those killed," a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement following the meeting.
Britain supports a Ukrainian-led investigation that includes specialist experts from Malaysia, the Netherlands and other countries and which is "in line with international standards set by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)," the spokesperson noted.
The spokesperson confirmed that 10 British nationals died in this plane crash. "The families of those killed have been informed and the Foreign Office is offering consular assistance to them at this difficult time."
The spokesperson also hinted that the cause of the crash was linked to militants in eastern Ukraine.
On Friday, British Prime Minister David Cameron called on all governments concerned to cooperate in investigating the incident, describing it as "absolutely appalling, shocking, horrific" and "cannot be allowed to stand."
"What is absolutely necessary is for all governments to cooperate in every way they can to get to the bottom of what happened, to make sure that this site can be properly investigated, and to make sure that the bodies of loved ones can be properly recovered," he urged after chairing a Cobra emergency meeting with his ministers.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Boeing 777-200, was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it went down Thursday in eastern Ukraine with 298 passengers and crew aboard, according to Malaysian Airlines.
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