MH17 brought down by BUK missile, report confirms
Missile's warhead detonated on left side of aircraft's cockpit, bringing it down.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was brought down by a BUK surface-to-air missile over a war-torn area of Eastern Ukraine, a report by the Dutch Safety Board confirmed Tuesday.
Malaysia's National News Agency Bernama reported the board's chairman, Tjibbe Joustra, as saying that the missile's warhead detonated on the left side of the aircraft's cockpit, bringing it down.
The final report on the MH17 tragedy was presented by the safety board at Gilze-Rijen Airbase in the Netherlands.
Kuala Lumpur-bound Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 was shot down while flying from Amsterdam on July 17, 2014. The tragedy saw all 298 passengers on board killed, including 28 Malaysians and 15 crew.
The final report did not specify who was responsible for the missile, but insisted that the airspace should have been closed at the time.
Investigators also could not determine at which point the occupants died, and underlined Tuesday that some passengers may have remained conscious during the 90 seconds following the detonation, as the plane broke apart and plummeted to the ground.
