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Netherlands Mourns As Crash Victims' Bodies Arrive

A convoy of funeral hearses carrying coffins containing the remains of victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, drives from the Eindhoven Airbase to Hilversum on July 23, 2014. (Jerry Lampen/AFP/Getty Images)
A convoy of funeral hearses carrying coffins containing the remains of victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, drives from the Eindhoven Airbase to Hilversum on July 23, 2014. (Jerry Lampen/AFP/Getty Images)

The Dutch Safety Board says it has taken charge of the investigation into the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Eastern Ukraine. The two black boxes from the airliner are reported to have arrived in Britain.

In the Netherlands, it’s a National Day of Mourning. Church bells in towns and villages across the country rang for five minutes today, just before two transport planes arrived at Eindhoven airbase, carrying the first coffins of the crash victims.

The remains are being taken to a military base in Hilversum, southeast of Amsterdam. Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti talks to journalist Robert Chesal, who spent much of the day in Hilversum.

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