The Netherlands is to send 40 unarmed military police officers to the MH17 crash site in Ukraine to help forensic experts look for the remaining bodies of the victims.

The military officers (marechaussee) will not be used to secure the the area, despite earlier reports the Netherlands is considering sending police or soldiers to Ukraine to do just that, prime minister Mark Rutte told a news conference.

The cabinet’s main priority remains bringing home the dead, Rutte said. A further 74 victims arrived back in the Netherlands on Thursday.

Experts

Two forensic experts have already left Kharkov for the crash site and they will be joined by a further 21 over the coming three days.

Rutte said the safety of the experts and the military police officers is not at risk.

Claims by the OSCE on Wednesday that they could not enter the area were a temporary situation due to a hostage-taking rumour and the threat had now been removed, he said.

International mission

The Netherlands and Australia are reportedly working on sending an international police mission to secure the crash site in rebel-held eastern Ukraine but Rutte refused to go into details.

‘We are looking for ways to stabilise the area,’ he said. ‘It is not clear if that will succeed.’

However, according to Australian media reports, Australia is sending up to 100 police officers to Ukraine, some of whom will be armed.

The Australian newspaper says Australia is close to securing a deal with Ukraine for federal police officers — some of them armed — to secure the wreckage site of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

Prime minister Tony Abbott said 90 federal police officers were in Europe now and another 100 would be sent from Australia today.

In addition, he said a ‘very modest’ ADF team was in the Ukraine already for planning and protection duties.

Risks

Meanwhile, Dutch police unions have said they have serious doubts about sending unarmed officers to Ukraine and say there are major risks attached to their mission.

Police officers should be used as part of a UN mission, they said. ‘But sending 40 unarmed officers is not what we were thinking of,’ a spokesman from one union told Nos news.

MPs also have doubts, Nos television says. They will discuss the plan with the prime minister later on Friday.