The remains of up to 169 people from the MH17 crash in Ukraine have been loaded on to refrigerated rail wagons, to be taken to an unknown destination.
Emergency workers said earlier that 196 bodies had been recovered from the area in rebel-controlled territory where the Malaysia Airlines jet came down.
International monitors were informed that 169 had been moved to the train in the nearby town of Torez.
All 298 people on MH17 died when a missile reportedly hit it on Thursday.
Western countries have criticised the pro-Russian rebels in the area for restricting access to the crash site.
At the scene: Fergal Keane, BBC News
The indiscipline and chaos of the last two days have been replaced by the robust presence of former riot policemen who now form a cordon around the central area of the crash site. The local militia who obstructed the OSCE on previous visits have apparently been removed.
The OSCE has moved to carry out inspections while journalists are being kept behind a cordon. It is important to stress that the OSCE team is composed of observers – they are not crash investigators. There is still no sign of the fully fledged independent investigation which is being demanded by the international community. With every passing hour the search for truth and justice for the victims of MH17 is postponed.
During the morning local volunteers have been searching the fields. We have been told that their job is to pinpoint belongings and remains to the emergency services. But this could easily have the effect of disturbing evidence important to an inquiry.
As for the strong words from British Prime Minister David Cameron attacking Russia they are likely to have little impact on the rebels here. They are contemptuous of the West and are much more concerned with the local military balance than with any warnings from London.
Ukraine’s government and the rebels have accused each other of shooting down the Boeing 777, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
The US state department said there had been multiple reports of bodies and aircraft parts being removed, and potential evidence tampered with.
Fighting is reportedly continuing in eastern Ukraine between the separatist rebels and government forces in a conflict which erupted in April and is believed to have claimed more than 1,000 lives.
Tagged body bags
The freight train with its five sealed wagons has been standing at Torez railway station, 15km (nine miles) from the crash site.
The carriages, with heavy closed doors, look like refrigeration units and there is the occasional smell normally associated with dead bodies, the BBC’s Richard Galpin reports from Torez.
Michael Bociurkiw, spokesperson for the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) mission in the region, said the monitors had been told that 169 bodies had been taken to the rail wagons in Torez.
An OSCE team was allowed to see three of the wagons, he added. “All of the body bags we saw were tagged,” he said.
It’s not clear where the train would take the bodies.
An official in Torez told Reuters the wagons were due to be transported east “in the direction of Ilovaysk” 35km to the east , but a senior rebel official, Sergei Kavtaradze, said they would not move until the issue of what to do with them had been resolved.
The same rebel official reportedly said the black boxes belonging to the airliner had already been brought to Donetsk, the biggest rebel-held city in the east. The report could not be verified independently.
Memorials
The passenger list released by Malaysia Airlines shows the plane was carrying 193 Dutch nationals (including one with dual US nationality), 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians and 10 Britons (including one with dual South African nationality), four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines, and one each from Canada and New Zealand.
Memorial services have been held in Australia, with more planned in other countries later on Sunday.
Bishop Peter Comensoli, who led the mass at Sydney’s St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, said the downing of MH17 was not “an innocent accident” but “the outcome of a trail of human evil”.
In Melbourne, a special mass was held for the HIV experts and campaigners on the flight who had been making their way to the city for an international Aids conference.
In a mark of respect to the dead, Malaysia Airline says it is retiring the MH17 flight number. The airline did the same for MH370, which disappeared in March with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Pressure on Russia
Russia denies any involvement in the downing of the Malaysian plane, and has rejected Western allegations that it is stoking the Ukraine conflict.
But there is growing international criticism of Moscow, with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond accusing the Russians of “obfuscation and obstruction”.
Ahead of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Tuesday, Mr Hammond told the BBC: “We will… seek to get our European partners to agree to go further in terms of sanctions if Russia hasn’t radically changed it’s position by then.”
Ukraine’s Security Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the pro-Russian rebels were “not telling” where they were taking them.
“This is a big problem,” he said, adding that the rebels “are doing all they can to hide evidence that a Russian missile was involved.”
Meanwhile, fighting is continuing in eastern Ukraine, with Reuters news agency reporting that Ukrainian positions were fired on twice from across border with Russia.