While the circumstances surrounding the Malaysia Airlines disaster in Ukraine are far from ordinary, forensic experts said that the examination of victims’ bodies, now just beginning at a Dutch military base, should be relatively routine.

The specialists at the base at Hilversum, where bodies of the first 40 victims arrived Wednesday in wooden coffins after being flown from eastern Ukraine, will use DNA testing and other techniques to identify the dead and determine cause of death. Some of the work may help illuminate exactly what happened to the jetliner after it was hit by a surface-to-air missile last Thursday.

Experts said Wednesday that the most challenging aspect of any major forensics investigation — establishing leadership — had been dealt with by an international agreement that put the Netherlands in charge of identifying and repatriating remains. Although the disaster involved a Malaysian plane in Ukrainian territory, two-thirds of the 298 victims were Dutch.