(AFP) Medical experts have now identified 272 of the 298 people aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down in Ukraine in July, the Dutch justice ministry said Friday.

Ten more people were identified this week of whom seven held Dutch nationality, the ministry said in a statement, adding that their relatives would be informed.

It did not reveal the nationalities of the three others, per requests from the embassies concerned.

The information was given after Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans revealed that the body of one of the people on the plane was found with an oxygen mask around his neck.

The passenger was identified as an Australian passenger in media reports.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17 while flying over insurgent-held territory in conflict-wracked eastern Ukraine.

Forensics experts suspended their search for bodies due to clashes between Kiev and the pro-Russian rebels near the crash site northeast of Donetsk, but said they hoped to return once the fighting died down.

SOURCE AFP