DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukraine security spokesman says pro-Russia rebels have mined areas around the Malaysia Airlines crash site. And he says, “This makes the work of the international experts impossible.”

Investigators from the Netherlands have been trying to reach the site for four days, and today international observers trying to get to the scene were turned back after discussions with the rebels.

Nearly two weeks after the disaster, safety concerns and hindrance from separatists who control the area are still obstructing access to the site. Observers say wreckage has been cut, moved or otherwise tampered with.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have taken control of a town just to the north of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. Local officials in the region say fighting over the past 24 hours has killed 19 people.

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APPHOTO XDL104: Alexander Hug, deputy head of the OSCE mission to Ukraine, left, his colleagues and a pro-Russian rebel, 2nd left, examine a map as they try to estimate security conditions outside the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Wednesday, July 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) (30 Jul 2014)

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