A number of relatives of people who died in the MH17 air disaster have been shocked when dialling their mobile phone number and hearing the phone answered by someone, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday.

The paper says ‘several relatives’ have heard ‘eastern European-sounding voices’ answering the phones of their loved ones, indicating they have been taken from the crash site.

Telephone companies have refused to confirm if calls have been answered ‘out of privacy considerations’. However, they have agreed to cancel the subscriptions of victims without the customary death certificate, the paper says.