London : A pro-Russian rebel has said his forces shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, according to a report in an Italian newspaper. “We hit a plane from Kiev,’ our commanders told us. We thought we’d be fighting Ukrainian pilots landing in parachutes but instead we came across the corpses of civilians, the remains of bodies, along with suitcases and bags,” he said while talking to Corriere della Sera newspaper.
The newspaper claims they spoke to him at Torez railway station on Tuesday.
But the rebel said his fear turned to horror on arriving at the scene.
“With my soldiers I tried to spot parachutes on the ground and the trees. I saw shreds of clothing in a clearing. I approached and saw the body of a little girl, not more than five years old. It was terrible,” The Independent quoted the rebel as saying.
MH17 victim’s credit cards being used
The wife of MH17 victim Cameron Dalziel has been forced to cancel her dead husband’s credit cards as withdrawals had been attempted from within Ukraine, CNN reports. The South African born father of two was travelling on a British passport while travelling home to Malaysia after attending a conference in Amsterdam.
Shane Hattingh, the brother of Cameron’s widow, told CNN “people are abusing it (his card) in the Ukraine.” Desperate relatives revealed how they had called the mobile phones of their loves ones – only for them to be answered by strangers with ‘eastern European-sounding voices’.
After the initial shock, they immediately called the phone companies to shut down the accounts to prevent them being used, according to reports.
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