The missile shot skyward from war-ravaged eastern
Ukraine. With deadly accuracy more than six miles up, it detonated just
in front of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner, sending hundreds of jagged
steel shards ripping through its aluminum skin at up to 5,600 mph and
shearing the cockpit from the rest of the plane. - Netherlands (AP)
The two pilots and purser in the cockpit died instantly, and the Boeing
777 disintegrated and fell to earth, killing the rest of the 298 men,
women and children aboard Flight 17 on July 17, 2014, Dutch
investigators said Tuesday in a long-awaited report.
Some of the victims may have been conscious for 60 to 90
seconds, the Dutch Safety Board said, but they probably were not fully
aware of what was happening in the oxygen-starved, freezing chaos. The
tornado-like airflow surging through the doomed jet as it came apart was
powerful enough to tear off people's clothes and leave naked corpses
amid the fields of sunflowers.
The 15-month Dutch investigation blamed a
Soviet-made surface-to-air Buk missile for downing the Amsterdam to
Kuala Lumpur flight, but it did not explicitly say who had fired it. It
identified an area of 320 square kilometers (120 square miles) where it
said the launch must have taken place, and all of the land was in the
hands of pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukrainian forces at the time
of the disaster, according to daily maps of fighting released by the
Ukrainian National Security Council.
The Dutch Safety Board also found that the tragedy
wouldn't have happened if the airspace of eastern Ukraine had been
totally closed to passenger planes as fighting raged below. "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," Safety Board chairman Tjibbe
Joustra said in releasing the report at a military base in the southern
Netherlands.
He spoke in front of the partially reassembled red,
white and blue Malaysian jetliner, much of the left side of its mangled
fuselage front riddled with shrapnel holes. Russian officials were
prompt to dismiss the Dutch report, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei
Ryabkov calling it an obvious "attempt to make a biased conclusion, in
essence to carry out a political order."
Earlier Tuesday, the Buk's manufacturer presented
its own report trying to clear the separatists, and Russia itself, of
any involvement. The Russian state-controlled consortium Almaz-Antey
said it conducted experiments, including one in which a Buk missile was
detonated near the nose of an airplane similar to a 777, and it
contended they contradicted the conclusion that a Buk missile of the
kind used by the Russians destroyed Flight 17. Almaz-Antey had earlier
suggested that it could have been a model of Buk that is no longer in
service with the Russian military but is part of Ukraine's arsenal.
It said the experiments also rebutted claims the
missile was fired from Snizhne, a village that was under rebel control.
An Associated Press reporter saw a Buk missile system in that vicinity
on the same day.
Despite the moves by Moscow, Prime Minister Mark
Rutte of the Netherlands called on Russia to fully cooperate with a
separate criminal investigation that Dutch prosecutors are conducting
into the downing of the plane, in which 196 Dutch nationals died.
Rutte said a key priority "is now tracking down and
prosecuting the perpetrators." "On July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine,
in broad daylight, a passenger airplane was shot out of the sky with a
Buk missile," he said. The safety board's conclusions confirmed "some of
our most shocking suspicions," he added.
In a statement, the Dutch-led Joint Investigation
Team said it has already identified "persons of interest" in the probe,
but said it is "not easy" to find witnesses, especially ones willing to
make a statement. They said their probe will stretch into 2016.
The Netherlands has headed the international
investigation into the disaster because most victims were Dutch.
Ukraine, in whose airspace the incident occurred, agreed to let the
Netherlands take the lead.
At U.N. headquarters, Ukrainian Foreign Minister
Pavlo Klimkin defended his country's decision not to close its airspace,
saying no one at the time was aware of the possibility that Russia had
brought highly sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles into Ukraine.
Klimkin also praised the Dutch report as "fully
unbiased and transparent," and said what now is needed is for a criminal
investigation to reveal the chain of command and bring those
responsible to justice.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak also said the
world "must move forward toward ensuring that those responsible are
held accountable for this murderous act." There were 43 Malaysians
aboard, the second-highest total. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on
Wednesday that her government would not been bullied by Russia in
Australia's pursuit of justice. Bishop told Seven Network television
that a criminal investigation of the "atrocity" will continue.
"We certainly won't be bullied by anyone in our
pursuit of justice for the families of those aboard," Bishop told the
Seven Network. Australia had the third largest number of victims with 39
Australian citizens and permanent residents aboard.
Dutch investigators said the missile detonated less
than a meter (3.3 feet) from the plane, to the left side of the
cockpit, sending the shrapnel into the plane at speeds of up to 9,000
kph (5,600 mph).
Joustra said missile fragments found in the cockpit
crew's bodies, as well as paint traces, helped investigators to
identify the Buk. Some of the pieces of metal, he said, were shaped like
cubes or "bow ties" — a detail weapons experts called extremely
significant.
"The overall picture is conclusive — a 9M38M1
surface-to-air missile from a Buk operated from rebel-held territory in
east Ukraine was responsible for the shooting down of MH17," said Nick
de Larrinaga, Europe editor for IHS Jane's Defense Weekly.
Joustra said the Russian government had been given
the opportunity to review the report's conclusions in advance, and that
it maintained it was impossible to determine the type of missile or
warhead that struck the Boeing with certainty.
The missile explosion caused a "deafening sound
wave" anyone still alive aboard would have heard, the Dutch report said.
The sudden decompression, reduced oxygen levels and extreme cold of
minus 40-50 degrees Celsius (minus-40-58 degrees Fahrenheit) may have
killed some people. As the high winds tore through the cabin, hand
baggage and other personal belongings may have become lethal
projectiles.
As the mangled, pilotless jet went into its deadly
dive from 33,000 feet, those who hadn't already died may have suffered
dizziness, nausea and, finally, blackout and death. Rob Fredriksz, whose
son Bryce was aboard Flight 17, said he was relieved to hear that the
passengers died almost instantly and "absolutely felt and knew nothing."
Paul Guard, an Australian man whose parents Jill
and Roger died aboard Flight 17, said on Wednesday he believes the
Russians aren't the only ones at fault. "Russia's got a role and they
haven't been very helpful. So I blame Russia partially but not
completely. There are many other players that are also to blame," Guard
told Nine Network television in the Queensland state capital Brisbane.
Key findings of the investigation were given to
families of victims before the report was released, and Fredriksz said
some relatives became emotional when they were shown an animation
portraying the downing of the plane.
On Tuesday evening, President Vladimir Putin's
spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia was disappointed its experts
hadn't been invited to take part in the Dutch investigation, adding that
the refusal to take the findings of the Buk manufacturer's experiments
into account reflected a biased approach.
Commenting on Ukraine blaming Russia-backed
separatists for downing the plane, Peskov said that "prior to the
completion of the probe, it's inadmissible to put labels and name
culprits." U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the
Dutch investigation was conducted in a professional manner and should
serve as the basis for further work to identify those responsible for
the aircraft's destruction.
In the village of Hrabove where the jet came down,
Lyudmila Grigoryak — whose house was the closest to the crash site —
brought red carnations Tuesday to the field where small pieces of the
fuselage are still scattered.
Unlike a year and a half ago when heavy fighting
was just nearby, the area is quiet and deserted. All the camouflaged
rebels who were patrolling the area and manning checkpoints are gone.
Corder
reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Nataliya Vasilyeva, Jim Heintz and
Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Raf Casert in Brussels, Mstyslav Chernov
in Hrabove, Ukraine, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Edith M. Lederer at the
United Nations and Nancy Benac in Washington contributed to this report.
