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ByMstyslavChernov The Associated Press HRABOVE, UKRAINE Wear- ing gloves and carrying blue plastic buckets, inter- national investigators fi- nally began gathering up body parts and victims' be- longings Friday in the fields where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 came down. Artillery boomed in the distance as the 70-member team of Dutch and Austra- lian experts painstakingly combed a patch of scru- bland not far from the site of bloody clashes be- tween Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian separat- ist rebels. The team's top priority: collecting the remains of as many as 80 victims that have been lying out in the open, baking in the mid- summer heat, for more than two weeks because investi- gators were prevented by the fighting from reaching the scene. Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Dutch recovery mission, said in the Ukrai- nian capital of Kiev that the experts were able to gather some of the human remains. He would not give details out of respect for the victims' relatives. The pace set Friday hinted at the magnitude of the task ahead. Aalbersberg said a team of 30 experts spent two hours after lunchtime searching an area of just 30 square yards. The overall area to explore covers more than 8 square miles. "If we have maximum ca- pacity, we think we need at least three weeks to do a full search, but that's a very thin prospect," he said. The objects collected in- cluded papers and books belonging to some of the 298 people killed aboard the Boeing 777 that was shot down on July 17 with what the West says was a Rus- sian-made missile fired by the rebels. In a haphazard effort overseen by the rebels, more than 200 bodies were col- lected by rescue workers and were turned over to Dutch authorities last week for examination and identi- fication. Everything discovered Friday was first identified and photographed, then put into bags by recovery work- ers wearing protective gear. The bags were then placed in the blue buckets. Some recovery experts photographed pieces of the plane's fuselage and tail. Rebel fighters guarded the perimeter of the zone and kept their distance from the investigators. The remains will be put in refrigerated train cars Saturday, taken 190 miles to the city of Kharkiv and then flown to the Nether- lands. Nearly 200 of the vic- tims were Dutch. "Perseverance pays off," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. "The first step has been taken, but the se- curity situation is still vol- atile." Several hours before the team arrived at the crash site outside the village of Hrabove, at least 10 Ukrai- nian soldiers were killed when their convoy was am- bushed by rebels in a town 12 miles to the south. Thirteen more soldiers were unaccounted for af- ter the attack, officials said, and the bodies of four other people were being exam- ined to determine whether they were soldiers or rebels. The investigators plus officials with the Organiza- tion for Security and Coop- eration in Europe traveled to the crash site from the rebel-held city of Donetsk in 15 cars and a bus. The three-hour jour- ney took the investigating team through the govern- ment-held town of Debalt- seve and back into the sep- aratist-controlled territory where the wreckage lies. At Debaltseve, the convoy was joined by Red Cross vehi- cles. As the experts began working, artillery fire could be heard in the distance. It was unclear how far away the shells were landing and which side was firing. Aalbersberg said inves- tigators will face an easier journey to the site now they are relocating from Donetsk to a base on the grounds of a school, clinic and sports complex in the government- controlled town of Soledar, 56 miles from the scene. MALAYSIAN PLANE Uk ra in e: B od y pa rt s re tr ie ve d at j et c ra sh s it e DMITRYLOVETSKY—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Australian and Dutch experts examine the area of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17plane crash in the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Friday. By Boubacar Diallo The Associated Press CONAKRY, GUINEA An Eb- ola outbreak that has killed more than 700 people in West Africa is moving faster than efforts to con- trol the disease, the head of the World Health Organiza- tion warned as presidents from the affected countries met Friday in Guinea's cap- ital. Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, said the meeting in Con- akry "must be a turning point" in the battle against Ebola, which is now sicken- ing people in three African capitals for the first time in history. "If the situation con- tinues to deteriorate, the consequences can be cat- astrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socio- economic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries," she said, as the WHO formally launched a $100 million response plan that includes deploying hundreds more health care workers. Medecins Sans Fron- tieres, also known as Doc- tors Without Borders, said the WHO pledge "needs to translate to immediate and effective action." While the group has deployed some 550 health workers, it said it did not have the resources to expand further. Doctors Without Bor- ders said its teams are over- whelmed with new Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and that the situation in Liberia is now "dire." "Over the last weeks, there has been a signifi- cant surge in the epidemic — the number of cases has increased dramatically in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the disease has spread to many more villages and towns," the organization said in a statement. "After a lull in new cases in Guinea, there has been a resurgence in infections and deaths in the past week." At least 729 people have died since cases first emerged in March: 339 in Guinea, 233 in Sierra Le- one, 156 in Liberia and one in Nigeria. Two American health workers in Liberia have been infected, and an American man of Libe- rian descent died in Nige- ria from the disease, health authorities there say. Plans were underway to bring the two American aid workers — Nancy Write- bol and Dr. Kent Brantly — back to the U.S. A small private jet based in Atlanta has been dispatched to Li- beria. Officials said the jet was outfitted with a spe- cial, portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious dis- eases. While health officials say the virus is transmit- ted only through direct contact with bodily fluids, many sick patients have re- fused to go to isolation cen- ters and have infected fam- ily members and other care- givers. The fatality rate has been about 60 percent, and the scenes of patients bleeding from the eyes, mouth and ears has led many relatives to keep their sick family members at home instead. Sierra Le- one is now sending teams door-to-door in search of Ebola patients and others who have been exposed to the disease. Chan emphasized Fri- day that the general public "is not at high risk of infec- tion," but also said the Eb- ola virus should not be al- lowed to circulate widely. WEST AFRICA Ebola virus moving faster than control efforts, says head of WHO Landscape/Fence Steve's Tractor &LandscapeService •FenceBuilding•Landscaping • Trenching • Rototilling • Disking • Mowing • Ridging • Post Hole Digging • Blade Work • Sprinkler Installation • Concrete Work Cont. 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