MH17 crash investigation reveals Russian missile brought down flight over Ukraine, killing 298 people

Wreckage: Dutch Safety Board chairman Tjibbe Joustra speaks in front of the remains of the MH17 cockpit today
AFP/Getty Images
Michael Howie13 October 2015

A Russian-made Buk missile brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine killing all 298 people onboard, an official investigation into the disaster today concluded.

The Dutch Safety Board unveiled its long-awaited report into the July 2014 disaster, when the Boeing 777 was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The report did not indicate who fired the rocket - that will be addressed by criminal investigators who will report back later.

But the findings have already been challenged by the Russian state-controlled missile maker, Almaz-Antey, which said at an early press conference that its own investigation disagreed with the DSB’s report.

Dutch investigators had earlier shared the report’s findings with relatives of the dead at a meeting in the Hague.

Investigators found the passengers and crew would have lost consciousness almost immediately after the missile exploded, relatives said.

Ten of those who died in the disaster over rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine were British. Some 196 of the victims were Dutch.

Barry Sweeney, whose 28-year-old son Liam was on board, told the BBC they were told a Russian-made Buk missile exploded, hitting the cockpit first, killing the pilots.

That would have caused disorientation and confusion in the rest of the plane, he said.

“Hopefully most people were unconscious by the time this happened and death would have occurred pretty quick,” he said.

“That is a comfort for 298 sets of relatives.”

Mr Sweeney’s son was travelling from Newcastle with his friend John Alder to watch their beloved Newcastle United play in a pre-season tour of New Zealand.

Robby Oehlers, whose cousin Daisy was among the dead, said the gathering was “as quiet as a mouse” as Dutch Safety Board chairman Tjibbe Joustra explained the conclusions of the 15-month investigation.

“It was a Buk,” he said.

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