International monitors said on Saturday they had been allowed to see more of the site where a Malaysian airliner crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, though gunmen still stopped them approaching some of the wreckage. 

In sometimes tense scenes with pro-Russian rebels clearly uncomfortable at having observers and the press present, a top official at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said access had improved since they arrived on Friday. 

Securing the site and preserving evidence is crucial for investigators to try to piece together what, and who, caused the airliner to plunge into the steppe on Thursday, but some officials suggest the scene has already been compromised. 

"We have now had the possibility to see a bit more of this rather large scene. We have observed the situation here as it was presented to us," said Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine. 

"We also had the possibility to speak to those who are in charge here, and ... to speak to inhabitants of a local village." 

He told reporters: "As in any job, the cooperation improves over time ... we had better access today." 

On Friday, a group of monitors were hampered in their work by "armed personnel who acted in a very impolite and unprofessional manner. Some of them even looked slightly intoxicated", an OSCE spokesman said. 

On Saturday, gunmen formed a line along the edge of the fields where the plane crashed, killing all 298 people on board, ostensibly to show they were securing the site. 

The pro-Russian rebels, who want independence for Ukraine's eastern Donbass region where most people speak Russia, say they have not touched the site, but at least some of their number at the scene said some bodies had been taken away in trucks. 

World leaders have called for a rapid investigation into Thursday's airliner disaster, which could mark a pivotal moment in deteriorating relations between Russia and the West. 

The United States and other powers said a surface-to-air missile appeared to have been fired from rebel-held territory. 

But some officials fear time may be running out to ensure a thorough and forensic investigation. 

"I don't think it's too late. But with each passing day you lose a chance to protect and secure the scene and the bodies," said Michael Bociurkiw, an OSCE spokesman, adding he thought the security presence at the site had been laid on for their visit. 

"It's a huge area. You need a lot of people to protect the bodies and give them the dignity they deserve." 

He told a later news conference that the monitors had, for the first time, seen rescue workers removing bodies from the site and putting them in bags. 

"Typically these bags were placed on both sides of the closed roadway. Some of the bags were open and exposed to the elements. We don't quite know why. We counted today 55 body bags and 50 marked locations of bodies," he said.

 'Angry, furious'

After meeting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who said he condemned interference with work at the crash site, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said the Netherlands was "angry, furious" by news that bodies were being moved around and the site was not being "treated properly". 

He said the Netherlands, which lost 193 citizens on the flight from Amsterdam, would not rest until those responsible, and those that supported them, were brought to justice. 

Ukraine says Russia played a decisive role in shooting down the plane, and called on Moscow to hand over what it said was the Russian crew of the SA-11 radar-guided missile system. 

Russia and pro-Russian rebels deny any role in the disaster. 

Locals wandered over a part of the crash site on the outskirts of the village of Rozsypne, leaving flowers and toys on the wreckage. A Reuters witness saw that some of the debris had been moved since Friday. 

The rebels accused Ukraine of preventing international investigators from arriving and called for help from Moscow to recover bodies starting to rot after two days in summer heat. 

"There's a grandmother. A body landed right in her bed. She says 'please take this body away'. But we cannot tamper with the site," rebel leader Aleksander Borodai said. 

"Bodies of innocent people are lying out in the heat. We reserve the right, if the delay continues ... to begin the process of taking away the bodies. We ask the Russian Federation to help us with this problem and send their experts." 

(Additional reporting by Peter Graff in Donetsk and Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Andrew Heavens)

M'sian team cannot perform duties

The Malaysian investigation team tasked to investigate the tragic crash of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 has arrived in Kiev, Ukraine, early today reported Bernama .

However, the team cannot perform their duties as yet because the crash site is still not safe to enter.

Head of the investigation team, Khairil Hilmi Mokhtar, said there is no safe passage yet for the team to visit the crash site at Grabovo, approximately 750 KM from Kiev, and the Ukrainian government is still trying to facilitate the team.

 "We will always abide by the Ukraine government's requirement as they are also trying to ensure our safety in performing our mission," he told Malaysian journalists in Kiev today.

The team consist of 131 personnel, including a 24 man Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart) and police forensic officers.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Razak, in his special message delivered live on national television, said the Malaysian government is demanding the relevant parties to guarantee and ensure the safety of the investigating team during the whole period of the probe.

Najib also urged the parties concerned not to tamper with or impair the evidence at the scene so as to allow for a transparent and effective probe and, if the investigation proved that Flight MH17 was indeed shot down, for those responsible to be brought to justice.

"I conveyed all these three demands today to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. I have also requested the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin ( left ), to extend full cooperation to help achieve these objectives," Najib said.

Although Flight MH17 was believed to have shot down, Najib said the government would not point fingers at any party until verified evidence showed up.

In Putrajaya today, Najib said Malaysia, as the owner of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, would ensure that the plane's black boxes would not be under the control of any irrelevant quarters.     

According to the international law, the owner of the plane has every right for the black boxes, he said.    

"We must follow the international law and those who have no right whatsoever cannot claim or take over control of the black boxes," Najib said.

The foreign media have reported that the black box of Flight MH17 had been recovered and taken out of the crash site, but Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong had dismissed it, saying the report was still unconfirmed news and needed to be verified.

- Agencies