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MH17 was brought down by missile: investigators

The missile that downed Malaysia Airlines flight 17 exploded less than a metre from the cockpit, killing the crew inside instantly and breaking off the front of the plane, the Dutch Safety Board said Tuesday as it presented the results of an official probe into the crash in eastern Ukraine.


October 13, 2015  By The Associated Press

It added that the tragedy that killed all 298 people aboard the plane on July 17, 2014, wouldn’t have happened if anyone had thought to close the airspace of eastern Ukraine to passenger planes as fighting raged below.

The report did not consider who launched the missile. However, it identified an area of 320 square kilometres from which the launch must have taken place. All the territory within the area was in rebel separatist hands at the time of the crash.

Safety Board chairman Tjibbe Joustra said the 15-month investigation found the warhead was that used on a Buk surface-to-air missile system. | READ MORE

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