The Hague, Nov 16 (IANS): Recovery and removal of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from its crash site in rebel-held eastern Ukraine started Sunday, the Dutch Safety Board said in a statement.

The Dutch Safety Board has commissioned the recovery and transportation to the Netherlands of the wreckage as part of the investigation into the cause of the crash.

As part of the investigation, the board intends to reconstruct a section of the aircraft.

It is expected that the recovery operation will take several days, depending on the safety conditions and other factors.

This will be assessed daily.

The recovered wreckage will be collected at a location near the crash site, from where the wreckage will be transported to Kharkov and finally to the Netherlands.

The aircraft which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in eastern Ukraine close to the Russian border July 17.

All 298 people on board were killed.