DHAKA: It's a staggering figure, two weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot out of the sky.

As many as 80 bodies could still be lying in the fields of eastern Ukraine where the passenger jet crashed, Australia's foreign minister told CNN on Thursday.

"But we won't know until our investigative teams are on the site and combing the crash site for remains," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said. "And that's the grisly and sobering task that they must undertake from now on."

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe reached the crash site on Thursday, accompanied by two Dutch and two Australian experts. The monitors used a new route to access the site, reports CNN.

Many coffins holding remains -- collected in the first week after the disaster -- already have been flown to Netherlands, where the flight originated July 17. But monitors who've gained sporadic access to the site have said bodies and victims' belongings still lie scattered across huge debris fields.

Experts marked locations where they spotted human remains on Thursday, OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said. They hope to continue investigating Friday, he said, and may use cadaver dogs and aerial surveillance to search the scene.

"This all goes back to time is of the essence," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "Everyone realizes that time is no longer on our side, that this investigation has to kick-start into high gear right away."

The team at the site observed a moment's silence to mark two weeks to the day since the plane -- en route from Amsterdam to Malaysia -- plummeted to Earth near the Russian border in rural eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials have alleged that a Russian-made missile system downed the plane from rebel-held territory; Russia and the rebel fighters deny involvement.

The team's arrival came as Ukraine's military announced a one-day cease-fire Thursday to allow international experts full access.

A statement issued by the Ukrainian Counter-Terrorist Operation's press center said the military would not take offensive action but will "respond to direct attacks."

The statement also accused the rebels of continued violence, including firing Grad rocket systems Thursday morning. "This demonstrates their attitude towards Ukraine and the international community," it said.

Source: Al Jazeera

BDST: 0429 HRS, AUG 01, 2014