Dutch prosecutors have confirmed the body of a passenger on the Malaysian airliner that crashed in July in eastern Ukraine was found wearing an oxygen mask.
The prosecutors said the victim of the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was Australian. Forensic experts have tested the mask for fingerprints, saliva and DNA, but the tests yielded no results.
The discovery of the oxygen mask was made public late Wednesday by Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, raising speculation some passengers may have been aware the plane was in trouble.
All 298 passengers and crew died when the plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down July 17 while flying over conflict-ridden eastern Ukraine.
Relatives of the Australian passenger were informed about the mask immediately after it was discovered, but relatives of other victims heard about it for the first time during Timmermans' television interview.
Kyiv and the West have accused Moscow-backed separatists of shooting down the Boeing 777 with a Russian surface-to-air missile. Moscow denies the charge and accuses Kyiv of responsibility for the disaster. The crash is under investigation.
Some information in this report was provided by AP and AFP.
