The final kick for MH17 victims

Australia's prime minister condemns activity at the scene of the MH17 plane crash under the control of pro-Russian rebels. Paul Chapman reports.

Luggage and personal belongings from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 lie in a field in Grabovo, Ukraine. Source: Getty Images

CREDIT and debit cards are among hundreds of items reportedly stolen from the belongings of dead passengers from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Pro-Russian insurgents are accused of looting personal possessions, as well as taking, tampering with and destroying evidence.

The Dutch Banking Association said it was taking "preventive measures" to ensure the stolen cards would not be used for personal gain.

It also said it would compensate the families of victims in the event the cards were used.

"International media report that victims' bank cards have been stolen," it said in a statement. "Banks are taking preventive measures as necessary."

The statement released by the Dutch Banking Association. Source: Supplied

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was saddened to see images of "shameless" rebels handling passenger possessions and walking around the crash site.

The Boeing 777-200ER, which was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, appeared to have broken up before hitting the ground and the burning wreckage — which included body parts and the belongings of passengers — was scattered over a 25km area.

Freelance photojournalist Filip Warwick said that he had not come across a single wallet with money, mobile phone or camera at the crash site.

Many of the belongings contained holiday information, and other souvenirs. Source: AFP

"In some areas of this field, near the small town of Grabovo in a remote eastern Ukrainian farming region close to the Russian border, backpacks and other carry-on luggage were grouped together," he writes in USA Today .

"It was clear that looters had opened and rifled through some of them."

The reports of stolen property were backed up by self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Borodai who said local residents may have used victims' credit cards, NBC News reported.

Australian journalist Demjin Doroschenko also reported on the chaos at the scene.

The 43-year-old said he had rummaged through some of the passengers' belongings in a desperate bid to retrieve personal information including passports and boarding passes to give to their families.

But he said many items had been stolen from the luggage and, like Warwick, he failed to find one wallet with any money in it.

A local resident stands among the wreckage at the site of the crash. Source: AFP

Russian-backed separatists are preventing investigators from accessing evidence, but also possessions, from the site.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the site was being treated more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation and called for greater cooperation and access to the site.

"The wreckage has been picked over, it's been trashed, it's been trampled," he said.

Plane crashes are subjected to a rigorous independent investigation to determine the cause of the crash, and in some cases airlines do make efforts to reunite luggage and possessions with passengers or their next of kin.

However, given the complex nature of this disaster, it remains unclear if any of this will take place.

In 2009, US Airways salvaged some luggage and possessions belonging to passengers and crew after Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River and sank.

The 150 passengers were forced to leave their belongings behind after scrambling onto rescue boats.

US Airways together with Texas-based company Global-BMS spent four months recovering, sorting, cleaning and restoring 36,000 belongings recovered following the disaster, USA Today reported at the time.

Under the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act airlines are required to return passenger possessions to their families when a fatal crash occurs.

Pro-Russian separatists in the region and officials in Kiev have blamed each other for the crash. Source: AFP

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