Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai today said investigators are racing against time to gain access the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site before winter comes, or they may not be able to enter again until April next year.

 

"The window of opportunity to enter the crash side is becoming narrower as winter is near.

 

"When snow starts to fall, we will not be able to enter the site to conduct further investigations. Therefore we are pushing to enter the site in this short space of time.

 

"We hope we can enter as soon as possible or else, we will need to wait until winter ends which will be three to four months, sometime in April next year," he told Parliament during Question Time this morning.

 

Liow ( left ) disclosed there have been some positive signs as a team managed to enter the crash site in Donetsk, Ukraine yesterday which is the site of fighting between government forces and separatists.

 

"However, the team sent in was only to collect the belongings of the victims. We will need to send an investigation team to find the (remaining) dead and to gather evidence for a more in-depth probe," he said.

 

Ceasefire difficult

He added the situation there was complex and securing a ceasefire was difficult.

 

"We understand the complexity of Ukraine because there are at least 12 to 13 separatist groups.

 

"It is not easy to get an agreement from all of them for a complete ceasefire," he said.

 

To date, Liow said to date, a total of 278 of the 298 victims have been identified.

 

Flight MH17 which took off from Amsterdam on July 17 was bound for Kuala Lumpur but was shot down over the troubled region.

 

A total of 283 passengers and 15 crew perished, most of whom were nationals of the Netherlands and Malaysia.