A recovery operation to get the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down over Ukraine back to the Netherlands could be started within a few days, Dutch investigators say.

The Dutch Safety Board (DSB), which is leading the investigation into the July 17 downing of flight MH17, said on Thursday it hoped to reconstruct part of the Boeing 777 as part of its probe into the tragedy.

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A total of 298 people, including 193 citizens of the Netherlands and 38 Australian citizens and residents, died when the plane crashed in an area where pro-Russian separatists operated.

A preliminary report by the DSB in September 2014 said wreckage was “consistent with the damage that would be expected from a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside”.

In a statement on Thursday, the DSB said: “The Dutch Safety Board has commissioned the recovery and transportation to the Netherlands of wreckage from flight MH17. As part of the investigation into the cause and progress of the crash, the DSB intends to reconstruct a section of the aircraft.

“Agreements have been made about a plan that should make it possible to recover the wreckage and hand it over to the DSB. Its technical implementation is currently being prepared.

“The DSB expects that it will be possible to start the recovery operation within a few days, although the start may have to be delayed due to the precarious safety situation in the area and other factors.”

Access to the site has been hampered by fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces, despite a fragile truce in eastern Ukraine.

Last Friday a team of Dutch, Ukrainian and European emergency workers gained a rare chance to safely reach the area and collect human remains where the plane’s wreckage is scattered.