A Russian-made missile exploded near the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine in 2014, killing the crew and breaking off the nose — and some passengers may have remained conscious while the crippled aircraft flew another five miles before crashing, Dutch officials said in a report released Tuesday.
“Flight MH17 crashed as a result of the detonation of a warhead outside the airplane against the left-hand side of the cockpit,” said Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board. “This warhead fits the kind of missile that is installed in the BUK surface-to-air missile system.”
The missile exploded about three feet above the Boeing 777-200’s cockpit at 33,000 feet during the July 17, 2014, flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
“Hundreds of metal fragments were found in the bodies of the two pilots and the purser present in the cockpit at the time of the crash,” the report said.
The 283 passengers and remaining 12 crew members quickly lost oxygen in the deafening, freezing fuselage before the rest of the aircraft slammed to the ground.
“It cannot be ruled out that some occupants remained conscious for some time during the one to one and a half minutes for which the crash lasted,” though they probably were not fully aware of what was happening, the chilling report said.
The report cited the failure by authorities to close the airspace above rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
“Our investigation showed that all parties regarded the conflict in eastern part of Ukraine from a military perspective. Nobody gave any thought of a possible threat to civil aviation,” Joustra said.
Investigators did not consider who pulled the trigger — a matter being addressed by a criminal probe — but identified an area of about 120 square miles in the hands of pro-Russian separatists from which the launch must have taken place.
“Even if the report doesn’t name those responsible, it will still allow us to close some doors, to have some answers,” Pierre Chardom, a Belgian who lost his brother in the crash.
Ukrainian officials have said the rebels brought down the airliner, but Russia claims the missile was fired from Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Shortly before the report’s release, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said he was certain the plane was shot down by Russian special forces.
“In our opinion it was carried out solely from territory controlled by Russian fighters and there is no doubt that drunken separatists are not able to operate BUK systems,” Yatseniuk said.
The doomed jet was shot down three months after fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and the separatists who are seeking independence from the pro-European government in Kiev.
The investigators ruled out an array of other theories for the disaster, including a meteor.
The report also cited a high-frequency sound wave from outside the plane.
“The sound wave lasting 2.3 milliseconds that was recorded in the last 20 milliseconds on the cockpit voice recorder did not contain the same signature wave form as either an internal explosion (bomb or fuel tank) or structural failure and explosive decompression,” the report said.
The Netherlands headed the 15-month probe because 196 victims were Dutch.
With Post Wires