The first of the lorries carrying the wreckage of Malaysian Airways flight MH17, brought down by a missile over eastern Ukraine in July, crossed the border into the Netherlands early on Monday night.

The lorries began their journey from Ukraine last Wednesday. A further eight lorries carrying wreckage will arrive later this week, Dutch media report.

German police accompanied the lorries to the border where Dutch police took over. The lorries parked up for the night on Dutch soil and are expected to continue their journey to the Gilze-Rijen airbase once rush hour is over.

No ceremony

According to broadcaster Nos, there will be no ceremony when the lorries arrive, as there was for each plane carrying human remains and personal belongings. Relatives and friends of those killed in the crash are welcome to be there but they will not be given a sight of the wreckage.

Once at the airbase, the wreckage will be photographed, scanned and divided into component parts. These will be used to reconstruct the plane as part of the investigation into the cause of the crash.

The Boeing 777 was flying in Ukrainian airspace over an area where the Ukrainian army was fighting Russian separatists when it was brought down, killing all 298 passengers.