Cash and jewellery is being stolen from victims of the Malaysian plane crash

Cash and jewellery is being stolen from victims of the Malaysian plane crash, Ukrainian politicians claim.

The missile strike which brought down the MH17 flight left naked bodies strewn across fields surrounded by hundreds of possessions including children's books, playing cards, slippers, letters and old vinyl records.

But tonight it has been claimed that looters have descended on the distressing scene, stealing valuable goods from the 298 passengers and crew, who all died in the blast.

Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Kiev government, said: 'I have received information that terrorist death-hunters were collecting not only cash and jewellery of the crashed Boeing dead passengers but also the credit cards of the victims.

'Currently, they might as well try to use them in Ukraine or pass them on to Russia. 

'My humble request to the relatives of the victims to freeze their credit cards, so that they won't loose their assets to terrorists.'

Speculation over the source of the missile, which remains unconfirmed, has sparked a propaganda battle between both sides of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. 

Officials in Kiev have made repeated statements linking the attack to pro-Russian separatists.

Tonight, Downing Street supported the claims with a statement to say it appears 'increasingly likely that MH-17 was shot down by a separatist missile' fired from near Torez, an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

The Malaysian Airlines flight, a Boeing 777, was brought down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, with the loss of everyone on board.

Makeshift white flags have been placed to mark where bodies lay in corn fields and among the debris.

Others, stripped bare by the force of the crash, had been covered by polythene sheeting weighed down by stones, one marked with a flower in remembrance.

‘There was no fire in this part of the plane. The fire was in the back part which is lying not far from Grabovo village.’

A local farmer said: ‘I was herding my cows and heard a buzzing noise.

‘I lay on the ground and thinking only that it would not hit me and my cows. Then I looked and saw that something turns sharply and two big wings were flying. Bang. And something explodes. It came from eastern side, from the side of Sokholikha mountain.’

David Cameron has insisted that those responsible for the apparent shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 must be 'brought to account' amid deepening tensions with Russia.

The Prime Minister described the catastrophe, in which nine Britons died, as an 'absolutely appalling, shocking, horrific incident' that 'cannot be allowed to stand'.

The response came as the United Nations Security Council approved a statement calling for a 'full, thorough and independent international investigation' into the crash. 

The Ukrainian government has blamed rebels using Russian-supplied surface-to-air missiles for the tragedy, while the Kremlin has accused Kiev of failing to agree a ceasefire.